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European Discovery Award. At the Zurich Film Festival, the European Film Academy has announced this year's nominations for the "European Discovery", an award presented annually as part of the European Film Awards to a young and upcoming director for a first full-length feature film. The nominated films

Young film critics are welcome to apply for the 12th IFFR Trainee Project at the International Film Festival Rotterdam at its 39th edition (January 27 — February 7, 2010). Call

"The White Ribbon" (Das weisse Band) by Michael Haneke received FIPRESCI's Grand Prix as best film of the year 2009, at the opening ceremony of the San Sebastian International Film Festival, on September 18. More

Tullio Kezich, the prominent Italian critic and writer, passed away in Rome, aged 81. He was the film critic for the daily "Corriere Della Sera". Irene Bignardi remembers him.

Matthieu Darras, the French critic ("Positif") and programmer (the Cannes Critics' Week), has been appointed successor of Peter Nagel as Artistic Director of the International Film Festival Bratislava, Slovak Republic. The next edition will take place from November 27 to December 4, 2009.

Norwegian Film Critics Per Haddal and Pal Bang-Hansen received the Aamot Statuette, the honorary award of "Film & Kino". Both critics "received the award for their serious film criticism and for having expressed, each in their own way, their opinions about cinema for several decades. With their distinctive voices and a strong urge to reach us with their opinions about the movies, they have put their mark on the Norwegian film life, film discussion and film interest for close to fifty years."

Thessaloniki. German director Werner Herzog is the principal retrospective of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary (November 13-22). Herzog will attend the Festival to present his films, conduct a Masterclass and will be honored with a Golden Alexander for his contribution to the art of cinema. The full retrospective, organized in collaboration with the Goethe Institute in Greece, will showcase the total of Herzog's films, including the filmmaker’s fiction and documentary shorts and features, as well as projects made especially for television.

Claudia Durgnat has been appointed successor of Léo Kaneman as director of the festival "Cinéma Tous Ecrans" in Geneva, Switzerland. Kaneman, who had founded the festival 15 years ago, had established it as a forum of films on the borderline between film and television — films "presented on big screen that have been produced for the small ones". The next edition will take place November 2-8, 2009.

Torino. Italian film director Gianni Amelio has been appointed director of the Torino Film Festival. He succeeds his colleague Nanni Moretti who headed the festival's recent editions. The 2009 festival is scheduled for November 13 to 21.

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