Vet gamers, upstarts go foot-to-foot

In the inaugural Sundance London towards the lengthy-established Hong Kong fest, spring showcases make an effort to establish brand ID in crowded fieldZAGREBDOXDates: February. 26-March 4 Location: Croatia Coming soon after the Berlinale's European Film Market, Zagrebdox is really a Balkan meeting point that aims to showcase recent non-fiction productions in the region, yet still time assisting worldwide and native co-push possibilities. Established in 2005, this bijou fixture has created out a location among Euro filmmakers and purchasers agents, because of some innovative programming: the 2011 edition sees a retrospective devoted to Guggenheim and Rockefeller fellow Jay Rosenblatt, in addition to sidebars dedicated to new films in the Baltics, a spotlight on student work in the Danish Film School, and, most intriguing of, a glance back at sixties Mondo exploitation cinema, a lot of that was pseudo-documentary in tone. Plus 50 films spread over a number of program strands (Questionable Dox, Musical Globe, Teen Dox and, everybody's favorite, Happy Dox), as the Masters program will screen new work from Werner Herzog, Errol Morris and Nick Broomfield, amongst others.SUNDANCE LONDONDates: April 26-29 Location: United kingdom Numerous U.K. fests are searching anxiously only at that new, body fat kid on the market -- a collaboration between Robert Redford's Sundance Institute and Europe's AEG Entertainment Group. To become in a multiplex in southeast London's O2 entertainment district (that is possessed by AEG), the fest will showcase a apparently all-American selection, attracted from January's primary Sundance event. (States Redford: "It's our mutual goal to create towards the U.K. the most effective in current American independent cinema, introducing the performers responsible for this, and essentially improve an image in our country that's broadly reflective from the diversity of voices not necessarily observed in our cultural exports.") Plus live musical performances, industry sections, and much more. For established Brit fests like Leeds, Bradford, Edinburgh as well as Raindance, it reps an uncomfortable incursion into already-crowded territory. Whether it's effective, however, anticipate seeing the Sundance brand push into other Euro marketplaces.SXSW FILM FESTDates: March 9-17 Location: Austin, Texas Last year's SXSW saw the triumph of Lena Dunham's "Small Furniture," which nabbed the fest's narrative feature prize. This time around sees the planet bow of "Small Flats," from helmer Jonas Akerlund. Will we discern a style, here? Certainly, while other fests expand to fill every space, SXSW topper Jesse Pierson has selected a far more modest, intimate approach, stating the significance of the fest use a safe atmosphere for filmmakers to experiment and collaborate. Dunham, meanwhile, returns together with her Cinemax comedy series "Women," professional-created by Judd Apatow and also the whole factor begins having a fanboy's wet dream: the planet preem of Came Goddard and Joss Whedon's eagerly looked forward to horror pic "The Home within the Forest," which apparently "turns the genre thoroughly.Inch Expect onstage interviews with Whedon, as well as with composer (and frequent Soderbergh collaborator) High cliff Martinez, riding high after his signature electronica focus on Nicolas Winding Refn's "Drive."SOFIA INT'L FILM FESTDates: March 9-18 Location: Bulgaria Very little changes at Sofia, 16 years since its beginning like a music showcase -- and that is the way in which its loyal gang of regular participants enjoy it. A part of a coterie of like-minded Eastern European fests (alongside Warsaw, Cottbus, Transylvania and Karlovy Vary), it brings passionate local auds the very best in recent festival hits, while supplying, using the Sofia Conferences (March 15-18), a production market that regularly draws filmmakers, bankers and purchasers from over the Balkans and beyond. Among its awards may be the Sofia Award, some pot initiative between your city and also the festival. Past honorees have incorporated Wim Wenders, Theo Angelopoulos and Peter Greenaway -- in addition to two former people of Monty Python, Terry Johnson and Michael Palin. And expect fest topper Stefan Kitanov to rock the party together with his band, composed of fellow festival company directors and developers: the Very Cheap Remainders from the repertory set.NEW Company directors/NEW FILMSDates: March 21-April 1 Location: NY City As is appropriate for a continuing collaboration between a couple of Gotham's cultural heavyweights, the Museum of contemporary Art and also the Film Society of Lincoln subsequently Center, ND/NF's programming remains daring, surprising and assured. Selection here may not bring much when it comes to sales (this really is greatly a celebration by as well as for buffs, as opposed to the industry), but it is an indisputable endorsement of quality. With a line-up evenly split between recent fest hits and off-the-radar breakthroughs, it's less mainstream compared to NYFF, and much more reliable -- a minimum of up to now -- than Tribeca. The 2011 showcase sees U.S. preems for Pablo Giorgelli's road movie "Las Acacias," well-received at Critics' Week in Cannes, along with a stunning debut from Russian helmer Angelina Nikonova, "Twilight Portrait." And Norwegian multi-hyphenate Joachim Trier ("Reprise," ND/NF 2007) constitutes a go back to present his sophomore effort, "Oslo, October 31st," an elegant remake of Louis Malle's classic "Le Fou Follet."HONG KONG INT'L FILM FESTDates: March 21-April 5 Location: Hong Kong Sprawling yet communal, this veteran event (established in 1977) was among the first Asian cinema showcases, and stays the ne plus ultra of the festival that skillfully services both public (thanks to an thorough tests program, with more than 330 game titles set to unspool in 11 different venues over the territory) and also the worldwide industry. Every year, a loyal cadre of purchasers heads East -- attracted both towards the Filmart market, and also to the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (March 19-21), which chooses 25 projects yearly, and aims to complement all of them with 1,000 filmmakers, traders, and distribs. Recent projects have incorporated Bong Joon-ho's "Mother" and Lu Chuan's "Town of Existence and Dying." As though all of this were not hectic enough, the fest will even host the 5th annual Asian Film Honours, which this season happens March 19, and will also be broadcast to a lot more than 300 million audiences all over the world.INT'L ISTANBUL FILM FESTDates: March 31-April 15 Location: Poultry With lots of the larger Turkish auteurs now avoiding their country's flagship fest for greater-profile premiere slots at Berlin and Cannes (and enjoying the rewards: Semih Kaplanoglu required this years Golden Bear for "Honey" and Nuri Bilge Ceylan's "Not so long ago in Anatolia" won the Grand Jury Prize around the Croisette last May), IFF is naturally searching to pay attention to generation x. Certainly one of its solutions may be the "Conferences around the Bridge" initiative -- a co-push summit made to facilitate local filmmakers' collaborations with Euro funders and marketers. This past year saw an alliance with Germany, via close ties using the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein Film Fund, with seven projects selected to get support. Another, with Holland Film Conferences (to mark the 400th anniversary of Nederlander-Turkish diplomatic relations), is scheduled with this year. Plus there's now a piece Happening round, available to five features either 50% completed or perhaps in publish-production.TRIBECA FILM FESTDates: April 1829 Location: NY City All eyes is going to be switched to Tribeca this spring, as French import Frederic Boyer makes his Stateside debut, managing the choice for Gotham's Lower Manhattan showcase. The ex-Directors' Week chief, ousted from Cannes following internecine conflicts using the Society of Film Company directors (which runs the Week) as well as an from time to time stormy relationship using the French press, might prove a great fit with this from time to time directionless fest -- and reps the very first time Tribeca has already established a real artistic director because the resignation of Peter Scarlett last year, soon after the appearance of former Sundance a.d. Geoff Gilmore as chief creative officer of Tribeca Businesses. Gilmore, for that record, can also be stated to become going for a "more active role" in programming, which, combined with reviews that Boyer is to date contracted only with the summer time, would appear to point a fascinating, possibly make-or-break year for Tribeca.Bay Area INT'L FILM FESTDates: April 19-May 3 Location: Bay Area Getting added former L.A. Film Fest program director Rachel Rosen 2 yrs ago, SF Film Society this past year hired another well-respected industry vet, the lately deceased Bingham Ray, as executive director -- filling the vacancy produced through the dying of SF mainstay Graham Leggat. Not sure yet how coordinators will cope with this latest blow. Because it stands now, this reliable fixture still plans to provide a tidy number of world preems, including Mike Green's broadened-cinema piece (still untitled at this time) about designer-architect Buckminster Larger, that will coincide having a Larger exhibition at SF's MOMA. Last year's Condition of Cinema address, by Killer Films' Christine Vachon, triggered a gentle sensation the 2011 talk will be presented by novelist Jonathan Lethem. And also the fest continues its recent tradition for innovative combinations of live music and cinema: the 2011 showcase event sees indie darling Merrill Garbus, a.k.a. Tune-Yards, carrying out a recently composed score for any quiet film classic in the city's luxurious Castro Theater.ENGDates: April 28-May 6 Location: Columbia Among an array of Korean fests (centered through the diminishing but nonetheless effective Busan), Jeonju's chief claim that they can worldwide prominence remains its quirkily independent programming, and it is production fund, the Jeonju Digital Project, that has backed three worldwide filmmakers each year to create short-to-medium-length films these preem in the fest before starting their festival existence. After skewing all-European this past year -- with new works from Jean-Marie Straub, Claire Denis and Jose Luis Guerin -- this time around the total amount changes entirely Eastward, with commissions for Filipino auteur Raya Martin (whose "The Truly Amazing Cinema Party" provides a dyspeptic study of film industry people going to his homeland), Sri Lankan helmer Vimukthi Jayasundara ("Light in Yellow Breathing Space," an impressionistic study of the father and the boy) and China's Ying Liang, whose "The Isolated" concentrates on a parent whose child kills six cops -- and is dependant on actual occasions. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com