Book of Projects 2013

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Interchange

with the support of

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Interchange

with the support of

Index

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Interchange Programme

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46
Introduction Tutors

12

Casting

Ahmad Abunasser (Tarzan), Mohammed Abunasser (Arab), Rashid Abdelhamid

16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48
Daoud’s Winter

Koutaiba Al-Janabi, Trent

Bound

Sophie Boutros, Nadia Eliewat

Imbaba

Samir Eshra, Daniela Praher

I Dreamt of Empire

Kasem Kharsa, Jessica Landt, Falk Nagel

Nezouh

Soudade Kaadan, Amira Kaadan

Holy Braille

Rebecca Lloyd-Evans, Edward Hallett

#Fierce (working title)

Julian McKinnon, Judith Lou Lévy

Two Rooms and a Parlor

Sherif Elbendary, Mohamed Salah al Azab, Racha Najdi

The Cycle

Musa Syeed, Sara Ishaq, Nicholas Bruckman

Trainee Script Consultants

Nagham Abboud Rowan Faqih

52 53 54

Antoine Waked

56

Staﬀ

This is the fourth Interchange Workshop; a

subsequently won the main prize at the Dubai

International Film Festival. Director Jihan Chouaib’s Interchange 2011 project, Breathe, has received CNC support and will shoot in 2014. The project Heatwave by Joyce Nashawati which was selected for Interchange 2012 will be presented at the Dubai Film Connection this year. Three Interchange graduates were selected for the 2013 Berlinale Talent Campus – Gigi Roccati; Italy, Ahmed Amer; Egypt and Hossam Elouan; Egypt. Suha Araj’s short ﬁlm, The Cup Reader, premiered at the TriBecCa Film Festival 2013. collaboration between the TorinoFilmLab, European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs (EAVE) and the Dubai International Film Festival; which brings together writer/director and producer teams from the Arab and EU countries. The Dubai International Film Festival and the European Union’s MEDIA Mundus programme generously fund Interchange.

During a week in Torino in June and a further week in Dubai in December the writers, in many cases writer-directors, focus intensively on the development of their scripts working individually and in small groups with the help of script tutors. At the same time, the producers concentrate on the many aspects of the producer’s craft including ﬁnancing, marketing, packaging, sales and distribution, pitching and networking. Crucially, the year culminates with a direct encounter with ‘the market’ when the participant teams pitch their projects to industry decision makers attending the Dubai Film Connection.
We hope that the industry decision makers meeting the Interchange participants at the Dubai Film Connection will enjoy their encounter with some talented people and fascinating projects and wish all our participants the best of fortune not only with their current projects but in the rest of their careers.

Interchange Programme

We have enjoyed working with you this year in Interchange 2013!

A fundamental aspect of our philosophy is that the process of meeting and working together creates long term relationships between the participants which will endure into the future to the beneﬁt of as yet unknown projects and co-productions. This year the Interchange participants come from thirteen diﬀerent Arab and European countries. They are joined by three script editor trainees – an innovation introduced from the start of Interchange – from Palestine and Lebanon.

Alan Fountain President, EAVE

Savina Neirotti
T o rinoFilmLab Director

Jane Williams
Dubai Film Connection & Film Forum Director

An update on past Interchange projects and people: renowned documentary director Mai Masri, who participated in Interchange 2011, will shoot her first fiction feature, 3000 Nights, in 2014. Haifaa Al Mansour, a participant in Interchange 2010, whose film Wadjda, the first feature film shot in Saudi Arabia and directed by a woman, premiered in Orrizonti at the 2012 Venice Film Festival and

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5

Tutors

Roshanak
Jacques Akchoti - France

scriptwriter

Antoine Le Bos - France

scriptwriter & story editor

Nicola Lusuardi - Italy

scriptwriter

Behesht Nedjad - Germany

producer

After studying at the NYU film school, Jacques Akchoti worked in different areas of film production with directors such as R. Bresson, JJ. Beineix and L. Von Trier.
Roshanak Behesht Nedjad started her career in the film business by organising film festivals whilst working as a freelancer for various TV programmes. In 1999, she started the company Flying Moon with Helge Albers. They produce multi-award winning fiction features and documentaries with a strong focus on international co-productions.
Antoine Le Bos is a French screenwriter and script consultant who has delivered over 25 feature film scripts under contract as a writer or co-writer; and has been a consultant on more than hundred feature film projects. Following a first life as a sailor, he interrupted a PhD in philosophy at the Sorbonne in order to graduate from the CEEA in Paris (the French conservatory for film writing) in 1996. After writing for TV; and directing short films and on-stage experiments in Paris and Prague; in 2002, he co-created the animation series Ratz, which aired in over 20 countries and established the Ciné-Ecritures workshops in Paris.
Since 1990, Nicola Lusuardi has been working as a playwright in collaboration with several production companies and as a screenwriter, story editor and supervisor with television networks (In treatment

Italian version, Barabba, Il segreto di Thomas, La

monaca di Monza). He is a script consultant and supervisor for original production at Sky Italy. In addition, he is a script consultant and tutor for the Interchange workshop and teaches dramaturgy for TV series at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematograﬁa in Rome, at the new Holden in Turin and on the SerialEyes programme in Berlin. In

2010 he wrote La Rivoluzione Seriale, Dino Audino

Editore, Roma.
He then became a screenwriter and script consultant and has led the development of numerous French and international films for cinema as well as television that were selected for and won awards at major film festivals. Recently, Jacques has worked on projects like A Screaming Man, Jury Prize at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival and Grigris, official selection at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, both by Haroun Mahamat Saleh.
Roshanak also works as an expert and consultant for various institutions and training organisations such as MEDIA International, EAVE for their European and international programmes, TorinoFilmLab, Focal and the Academy of Children’s Media in Germany.

He has also directed a feature film for television and written several screenplays. His script, Don’t Look Back, directed by Marina De Van and featuring Sophie Marceau and Monica Bellucci was part of the Official Selection of the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.
In 2012, she co-founded a second company with Jan von Meppen, LudInc, which produces serious games and trans-media projects for children. Roshanak is a member of the German and European Film Academy, an EAVE graduate (2003) and since 2010, also a group leader at EAVE.
Also in 2002, he started working as a scriptconsultant for producers and for the Moulin d’Andé (CECI, France) or European Short Pitch. As a writer for cinema, he won the Gan Foundation Prize in 2005 and has worked with, among others, the directors Lucile Hadzihalilovic and Atiq Rahimi. Since 2007, he has been the Artistic Director of Le Groupe Ouest, European centre for film creation in Britanny and co-created the Cross Channel Film Lab with Great Britain. He has been a tutor for the Script & Pitch Workshops and TorinoFilmLab since 2007, as well as for Interchange since 2009.
Nicola’s screenplays include:

In T r eatment – italian edition – by Saverio Costanzo Un amore e una vendetta – directed by Raﬀaele

Mertes

L’ultima T r incea – directed by A. Sironi

Little Dream – directed by D. Marengo, story M. Carlotto Puccini – directed by G. Capitani Pantani – directed by C. Bonivento

Morte di un Conﬁdente – directed by Manetti Bros.,

story M. Carlotto
Jacques has been teaching writing and directing at the Femis (national French ﬁlm school) since 1988 and has facilitated many international screenwriting and development workshops, including: EAVE, Sud Ecriture, DV8 Films, Vision Cinema, Ekran and Interchange.
The Black Arrow – directed by F. Costa, based on the novel by R.L. Stevenson Casanova – Directed by G. Battiato Renzo e Lucia – directed by F. Archibugi

Ultimo II – The Challenge – directed by M. Soavi

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Tutors

Sabine Sidawi - Lebanon

Sibylle Kurz - Germany

producer

pitching expert

Beirut-based producer Sabine Sidawi founded Orjouane Productions in 2007. It has gone on to become one of the most renowned production companies in Lebanon today.
Sibylle Kurz specializes in pitching training, project presentation, proposal development and dramaturgical doctoring. She also offers communication skills, negotiation training and personal coaching for companies and individuals.
Sabine has produced, co-produced and line produced more than 25 fiction and documentary films which have been screened and awarded at international festivals and sold around the world. These include: The Ugly One by Eric Baudelaire,

May In the Summer by Cherien Dabis, 74: The Reconstitution of a Struggle by Rania and Raed Rafei, Beirut Hotel by Danielle Arbid, Carlos by Olivier

Assayas, We Were Communists by Maher Abi Samra

and Everyday is a Holiday by Dima El-Horr.

With an academic background in media & communication science, sociology and psychology; she has a postgraduate education as a communication skills trainer and is a certified NLP Trainer (INLPT associational standards). She works as a Pitching Trainer and consultant for film schools and film institutions all over Europe. Her expertise in “The Art Of Pitching“ is a result of more than 15 years experience in the acquisition, distribution and co-production of theatrical, video and TV films in the German-speaking market at a distribution company that she co-founded in 1981. She left the organisation in 1995 to start her own company.
A strong believer in co-productions, she has always supported and worked with Lebanese, Arab and international directors and crew.

Sabine has been teaching film production at two major Lebanese universities since 2009 and frequently participates in international conferences as an expert on film production in the Middle East.
Kurz’ intensive workshop sessions enable producers to hone and time-tune their projects prior to pitching as well as gain insight into their own professional practice. In 1995, she co-founded d-net-work, an alliance of young European producers (feature & documentary) to help find co-production and distribution partners for their projects. She is a member of the European Documentary Network and the author of two books.

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mIPnmrtoeegrcrIahcman

Interchange

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script & intention

Inspired by our own experiences of making ﬁlms in Gaza and especially the absurd diﬃculties we face, it comes naturally to want to tell a story about making movies against the tide and in a prohibitive context.

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Using humour to describe a situation the whole population is trapped in, and through an ensemble of burlesque urban vignettes that repeat and slowly evolve in the wake of life’s surreal monotony in contemporary Gaza, Casting draws a portrait of a whole society and explores the dialectics of time, place and identity.

Tarzan and Arab

Widening the context of Gaza to any place where someone is struggling to produce art in the midst of social and institutional restrictions, we ask the broader question of how artists are supposed to work toward the betterment of their society, when there is a fundamental distrust of culture itself.

writers & directors

Budding ﬁlmmakers and identical twins, Tarzan and Arab hail from Gaza. They were born in 1988, one year after the last cinemas in

Gaza were closed.

The script for Casting is now in the ﬁnal stages of development. Our

cinematographic vision, (which relies on a realist style in the spirit of European filmmakers like Jacques Tati, Emir Kusturica and Roy Andersson) uses long scenes and slow tracking movements in order to heighten the sense of time and reflect the protagonist’s experience of reality. A range of eccentric yet archetypal characters (to be played by non professional actors in order to add to the sense of spontaneity and realism) will help to transmit a universal vignette of time and place. As filmmakers, we believe cinema to be, through entertainment, an important instrument of social critique, development and awakening. This film is our attempt to highlight the value of protecting diversity and individuality – in the Arab world and beyond – from political attempts at imposing a unilateral lens on life.
In 2010, Tarzan and Arab received the A.M. Qattan

Casting

Foundation’s prestigious Young Artist of the Year Award for their conceptual artwork Gaza wood, a series of mock-Hollywood posters for imaginary feature ﬁlms named after real Israeli military oﬀensives on Gaza, and

their short ﬁlm Colorful Journey.

writers & directors: Ahmad Abunasser (Tarzan) & Mohammed Abunasser (Arab)

co-writer & producer: Rashid Abdelhamid

Palestine / France

synopsis

Khalil is an odd-man-out film director in the midst of a complete identity crisis. In his war-torn hometown of Gaza in Palestine; where the balance between religion, tradition and culture is skewed to conservative extremes; Khalil struggles through the writing of a script for a film to find the right path for his life.

When life

In 2012, Tarzan and Arab were invited to Jordan, where they met the Palestinian producer Rashid Abdelhamid. Their

is mysterious, the world becomes a kind of fantasy

common desire to convey an alternative vision of Palestine led to the development of a creative triad and the production of their second short film, Condom Lead, under their brand new label: Made in Palestine Project. The film, selected in Cannes, is currently participating at some of the world’s most prestigious film festivals and will feature in the Muhr Arab Short section at DIFF 2013.
Encouraged by his long-time friend and producer Hassan, he keeps submitting the script to local authorities to get the necessary permits and funds, but he is confronted with the growing influence of radical religious movements that have taken hold of his city. While waiting for official approval, Khalil, firmly determined, drags through location scouting and local castings, observing the town’s colourful characters going about their days. These absurd and comic portraits of the townsfolk present different aspects of his thoughts, emotions and memories and represent the phases of his lifelong search for truth.

In the end, in spite of the stubborn mentality of the local authorities and the growing pressure of the Islamic extremists, Khalil decides to organize a big casting session, which announces the beginning of the production of his feature ﬁlm.

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production company

Made in Palestine Project Al Rasheed St. Gaza Palestine Rashid Abdelhamid T 00 970 5995006 T 00 962 777006666 [email protected] madeinpalproj.tumblr.com

production notes

As a producer, my goal is to make films that convey an alternative vision of Palestine and the Arab world, showing the diversity of the region and its human stories. Casting is such a film. While the story is inspired by Tarzan and Arab’s experiences of making films in Gaza, this project has a symbolic depth that allows its messages of protecting intellectual diversity and freedom of expression to work on a universal level. This quality is key, because it is what functions as the bridge in the development of greater understanding between people and cultures. a major international film festival in 2014. In terms of feasibility enhancers going into the production stage, our fundraising capacities have recently seen an immense boost from the buzz being generated by our first short film, Condom Lead (also written and directed by Tarzan and Arab), which was selected to compete for the Short Film Palme D’Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. The announcement has stirred interest amongst international (particularly European and Arab Gulf) partners and created greater industry credibility for the company within the independent film sector.

co-producer

Incognita Films France

Rashid Abdelhamid

co-writer & producer

total production budget

Casting ﬁts extraordinarily well with the proﬁle and overall development strategy of the production company. In fact the company was founded, in

619,000 USD

Casting’s natural audience is an international one that appreciates the independent art ﬁlm genre with its

Rashid Abdelhamid is an architect, designer, art curator and ﬁlm producer. Of mixed PalestinianSerbian origin, he was born and raised in Algeria and received his education in France and Italy. He went on to live and work in Gaza from 1997 to 2008.

current ﬁnancial need

549,000 USD

production status

development

Casting

writers & directors: Ahmad Abunasser (Tarzan) & Mohammed Abunasser (Arab)

In early 2013, in collaboration with twin Gazan ﬁlmmakers Tarzan and Arab, he founded Made in Palestine Project, an independent arts initiative to create and

co-writer & producer: Rashid Abdelhamid

Palestine / France

promote contemporary visual art for Palestine. He assisted with the production and distribution of Tarzan and Arab’s 2010

ﬁlm, Colourful Journey, which

screened in over 20 countries, including the Rotterdam

part, to provide a structure and a banner under which Tarzan and Arab and I could work together as a creative triad following our initial meeting in the summer of 2012. Made in Palestine Project was launched in February 2013 as an independent initiative to create and promote contemporary film and visual art with a focus on Palestine. We seek to support the creativity of emerging visual artists and create new opportunities for the next generation of Arab creators. The company is committed to reaching new audiences and widening the global perspective on Palestine through a spectrum of cultural platforms including films, exhibitions and publications. As an independent feature film project promoting strong artistic expression by young, emerging regional cultural producers, Casting is a great first feature film for the company. character-driven stories and global perspective (think of the audience for Kusturica’s Black Cat, White Cat, for example). The film will be shot in Arabic, but we intend for its distinct cinematographic style, universal story and message, high production values; and unique, colourful characters to transcend cultural limitations, increase global audience appeal and expand the regional and international potential of the project. Our co-producer has already contacted several major French and international sales and distribution companies and we expect to finalise an agreement in the upcoming months.

International Film Festival. In 2013, he produced and acted in the short film, Condom Lead, which was part of the official selection of the Cannes Film Festival (the first time ever a Palestinian short film was selected in this category).

Abdelhamid is currently producing Made in Palestine Project’s first feature film, Casting, which is in the final stages of development and funding.

The film is currently in the final stages of development and fundraising and we have secured French co-production. Our co-producer, Incognita, is a subsidiary of one of France’s leading production companies, Europacorp. This production partnership is built on our shared objective to submit the film to

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script & intention

The film is set in the early eighties, in Iraq’s most difficult period. Our society suffered many wars and no Iraqi family was left unharmed by the effects of war. This period has not been dealt with in films; these conflict-ridden, dark years in the country’s history, in the history of the Arab world. The Iraq-Iran war lasted 10 years and is an era that nobody likes to touch because all those involved from the Arab world and other parts of the globe gave money and support to one side or the other. Everybody had their reasons – but with no regard for the consequences and the victims.

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I would like to make a film that shows the consequences of these meaningless wars; the effects on the ordinary people, on the young soldiers, their mothers, the train drivers or the shopkeepers. Daoud’s Winter does not show the frontlines, the battles of soldiers and weapons; but instead the fear, the paranoia and grief that this situation inflicted on those trying to carry on with their lives in the country. The film explores life and death during this period, the injustice that marred society and the internal conflicts.

Koutaiba Al-Janabi

writer & director

Koutaiba Al-Janabi was born in Baghdad and went on to study photography and cinematography in Budapest, Hungary. He wrote his PhD. thesis on the aesthetics of Arab

cinema.

Many young people were faced with the choice of either joining

the ruling Baath party or going to battle with a very good chance of not coming home. My brother was one of them. I will never forget seeing my mother in her black dress standing at the door waiting for my brother, all day, all night, hoping that he would return from the frontline.