OFFICIAL INVITATION for TIDE OF SAND to the 20th Stockholm International Film Festival 18-29 November, 2009

Greetings from Stockholm!

I hope this e-mail finds you well. I hereby cordially invite Gustavo Montiel Pagés wonderful "TIDE OF SAND” to be screened at the 20th Stockholm International Film Festival 18-29 November 2009. Attached to this e-mail is our Regulations in the pdf-format. In case the film has been picked up by a Scandinavian distributor, please let me know as soon as possible.

After 19 years of successfully identifying the directors of tomorrow, the Stockholm International Film Festival is now established as one of the leading competitive film festivals in Europe. 170 films from over 40 countries we presented to more than 125.000 public visitors, 450 journalists and 300 film professionals in 2008. Working as an active business-to-business service towards attending foreign sales agents, producers and Nordic acquisition executives the Stockholm Industry Office has helped 15% of the selected titles gain distribution. In our ambition to further explore what new technology can do for independent film we are among the first festivals to offer online digital distribution to feature films presented at the festival, several of these are already available on VOD.

The 19th edition kicked off with The Wrestler by Darren Aronofsky, some of the high points were master director Wong Kar Wai's first visit to Scandinavia to received the Stockholm Visionary Award during his and when the queen of cool - Charlotte Rampling - charmed the audience when she received the Stockholm Lifetime Achievement Award .The immensely popular screening of Gomorrah in presence of the writer Roberto Saviano and the European premiere of Australia by Baz Luhrmann were among the 100 sold out screenings.

The coveted Bronze Horse for best film in competition was picked up by Courtney Hunt for her striking Frozen River. The audience gave their votes to the Swedish success story of the year, Ruben Östlund’s Involuntary The first ever Rising Star Award established in co-operation with festival sponsor L’Oreal went to talented Swedish actress Malin Crépin. Over 90 directors, actors and producers attended the festival to present their films and enjoy our world renowned hospitality, among them were Laurent Cantet, Thomas Clay, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Arnaud Desplechin, Rian Johnsson, Lance Hammer, Anna Maria Marinca and Kelly Reichardt.

With a passion for uncompromising artistry in current film making, the festival continues its quest for creativity and talent and we hope that you would like to join us for the 20th annual Stockholm International Film Festival 18 - 29 November, 2009. The Stockholm International Film Festival is accredited by FIAPF and hosts a FIPRESCI-jury.

I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Best Regards,

Johannes Palmroos
Program coordinator