Kviffeasternpromises Bookofprojects2020

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KVIFF EASTERN PROMISES BOOK OF PROJECTS 2020

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WORKS IN DEVELOPMENT – FEATURE LAUNCH WORKS IN PROGRESS FIRST CUT+ WORKS IN PROGRESS EURIMAGES LAB PROJECT AWARD DOCS IN PROGRESS

CRISSEA IV 7 Absence 18 Broad Peak 28 Atlantide 38 Every Single Minute 48 The Fragile Beauty of Masculinity 8 The Alleys 19 Deskmate 29 Bula 39 Homes 49 Kyuka – Journeying to the Moon Through the Black Medusa 20 I Am FINE, Thanks 30 Burial 40 Indoor – Tehran 50 Endless Sea 9 Field 21 Immaculate 31 Five Dreamers and a Horse 41 The Intensive Life Unit 51 Neither Voice 10 Snow White Dies at the End 22 January 32 Hello My Friend 42 The Lines 52 The Sanctuary 11 Stop-Zemlia 23 Runner 33 Roots 43 The Pawnshop 53 Sara’s Bungalow 12 Troubled Minds 24 The Users 34 Stepne 44 Roma and the Camel Man 54 Two Times One 13 Wiarołom 25 Wild Roots 35 Utopia 45 Until the Wedding 55 Usud 14 Vacuum 15

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DISCOVER NEW TALENTS AT KVIFF EASTERN PROMISES 2020

Dear Film Industry Professionals, thank you for picking up the Book of Projects – a compilation of various projects that are still in the making and that we at KVIFF believe have strong potential in the following years. This book presents a selection of 41 film projects which are now in development, production or post-production and are expected to be duly noted by the international film community. The projects will be introduced by filmmakers and producers at several events throughout ouron- line Industry Days. Under the flag of KVIFF Eastern Promises, we are introducing: Works in Development –Feature Launch, Works in Progress, First Cut+ Works in Progress, Eurimages Lab Project Award and Docs in Progress. One-on-one meetings will be held online July 9–July 10.

WORKS IN DEVELOPMENT – WORKS IN PROGRESS EURIMAGES LAB PROJECT AWARD DOCS IN PROGRESS FIRST CUT+ WORKS IN PROGRESS FEATURE LAUNCH Monday, July 6, 2pm–5pm, and Tuesday, Wednesday July 8, 10am–12pm Wednesday July 8, 2pm–4:30pm Monday, July 6, 2pm–5pm, and Tuesday, July 7, 2pm–5pm Eight projects from Eurimages countries A presentation of eight promising docu- July 7, 2pm–5pm Tuesday, July 7, 10am–12pm A presentation of eight selected films from that are in production or post-production, mentary films from the countries of Central Eight feature films in post-production stage, Works in Development – Feature Launch the countries of Central and Eastern Eu- made outside the traditional filmmak- and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the former predominantly from countries with a low is a presentation of nine selected projects rope, the Balkans, the former Soviet Union, ing framework and involving interna- Soviet Union, the Middle East and North production capacity and with a focus on that have been developed within the MID- the Middle East and North Africa that are tional cooperation will be presented here. Africa that are currently in production or Central & Eastern Europe. The most promis- POINT Feature Launch program, a unique currently in post-production. These films The best project will receive an award of post-production. These films don’t have ing project of Works in Progress and First training and networking platform for emerg- don’t have international sales yet. The most 50,000 EUR. This is an effort on the part international sales yet. The best project will Cut+ Works in Progress will receive the TRT ing talents from Central and Eastern Europe promising project of Works in Progress and of Eurimages to encourage those filmmak- receive an award of 5,000 EUR. prize of 10,000 EUR regardless of its post- that is aimed at scouting the most talented First Cut+ Works in Progress will receive ers who do not fit into a typical funding box, production needs. In addition to that, one filmmakers and producers of the future. It the TRT prize of 10,000 EUR regardless of i.e. those who refuse to follow the crowd or project will be awarded a Post-production focuses on creative teams who are devel- its post-production needs. In addition to aim at bringing down the traditional barriers Development Award which consists of the oping their first or second feature film. The that, one project will be awarded a Post- of film development and production. post-production services package that will program has been conducted in partnership production Development Award which con- allow the producers to finish the film. with the Karlovy Vary IFF, When East Meets sists of the post-production services pack- West and the Trieste FF. The projects are in age that will allow the producers to finish the development stage and are looking for the film. further co-production partners as well as potential markets and sales opportunities. The best project of the program receives the KVIFF & MIDPOINT Development Award of 10,000 EUR.

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WORKS IN DEVELOPMENT – FEATURE LAUNCH 5 KVIFF & MIDPOINT DEVELOPMENT AWARD JURY JOSEPH FAHIM DANIJEL HOČEVAR ALESSANDRA PASTORE Joseph Fahim is an Egyptian film critic, program- Born in 1965 in Ljubljana, Slovenia (former Yu- Alessandra has 15 years of experience in the au- mer and lecturer. He is the Arab delegate of the goslavia), Danijel is a film producer with extensive diovisual industry. She has been involved in the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, a former working experience in international co-productions setup and coordination of international vocational member of Berlin Critics’ Week, the curator of the and narrow-budget films, and is also the manag- training programmes for emerging professionals, 2018 Safar Film Festival in London, and ex-director ing director of Vertigo, a Ljubljana (Slovenia)-based including MAIA Workshops, Hermes, and Directors of programming of the Cairo International Film Fes- film production company. Danijel has produced Across Borders - Producers and Story Develop- tival. He has co-authored various books on Arab or co-produced more than 40 feature films, as ment Workshops. Alessandra is the founder and cinema and has contributed to numerous online well as more than 15 documentaries, including manager of LAND-Local Audiovisual Network & De- outlets in and outside the Middle East. To date, award-winning films such as Otac / Father (2020, velopment, a format to develop professional skills his writings have been published in six different Berlinale Panorama: Audience Award and Ecu- and networks in local environments in connection languages. He also works as a script consultant menical Prize) and Circles (2013, Sundance FF with the work of Film Commissions and Regions. for various institutions and production companies World Cinema Competition’s Jury Prize), both di- Since 2016, she has been Industry Coordinator at around the globe. rected by Srdan Golubović, God Exists, Her Name When East Meets West, the co-production forum is Petrunya (2019, Berlinale Competition: Ecumeni- in Trieste (Italy). Starting in 2019, Alessandra has cal Award and Guild Prize) by Teona Mitevska, Half- been the Head of Industry of Meeting Point – Vil- Sister (2019, Karlovy Vary IFF Main Competition), nius, the industry Work In Progress event under the Nightlife (2016, Karlovy Vary IFF’s Best Director Vilnius International Film Festival – Kinopavasaris. Award), Slovenian Girl (2009, Toronto IFF) and Alessandra is also a member of the European Film Spare Parts (2003, Berlinale Competition), all three Academy. directed by Damjan Kozole, An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker (2013, 2 Berlinale Silver Bears) by Danis Tanović, Alexandrians (2011, Trieste Film Fes- tival Best Documentary) by Metod Pevec, Bread and Milk (2001, Venice FF’s Lion of the Future Award) by Jan Cvitkovič and many more. Danijel has been selected among Variety’s Ten Producers to Watch in 2001, is a voting member of the Euro- pean Film Academy and has been actively involved since 2005 in several European audio-visual training initiatives, such as MIDPOINT Feature Launch, EAVE (Group Leader between 2009–13), Nipkow Program and Maia Workshops. He is also an advi- sor and member of the selection committee of the When East Meets West co-production market in Trieste.

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WORKS IN DEVELOPMENT – FEATURE LAUNCH 6 MIDPOINT FEATURE LAUNCH SCRIPT CONSULTANT TRAINEES MELISSA DHONDT JUDIT OLÁH ANGELIKI VERGOU Melissa Dhondt is a producer and screenwriter Judit Oláh finished her MA at Eötvös Lóránt Uni- Angeliki Vergou was appointed Head of the Cross- for the production company Lunanime, part of the versity in 2014 at the department of film studies, roads Co-production Forum (for projects in devel- Lumière Group, and the founder and producer of with the guidance of the head of the department, opment from Southeast Europe and the Mediter- the production company "in Hinterland", which András Bálint Kovács. In parallel with her acad- ranean region) of the Thessaloniki IFF in 2019. focuses on author driven fiction (short) films and emic studies in film theory and history, she also Prior to that, she was the coordinator of Cross- video-installations. She’s a MAIA 2017 and a 2018 attended the faculty of film-making. During her roads from 2008. Overall, she has been part of the EP2C postproduction graduate. She participated in studies, she worked on several films in various po- Thessaloniki festival since 2001, having worked in the MIDPOINT TV Launch 2018 as the creator and sitions. The most important are as follows: in 2013 various other departments and positions. She also writer of Transit, which won the Art Department with Vanda Arányi, she made the short film Loop at works for the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. Masterclass Award at CineLink Industry Days. Katapult Film and Laokoon Film. With the support She holds a BA in European Civilization (Hellenic of the Hungarian National Film Fund she has made Open University). She has participated in Sources her own first short film Beauty Queen in 2015. In 2: Training Mentors for Screenwriters (2013) and as 2015, she worked both on television documentaries an assistant trainer at MFI’s Script2Film Workshop and short films. She finished her feature-length (2019). She is currently a script consultant trainee documentary entitled Return to Epipo in 2020, with the MIDPOINT Feature Launch 2020 program. which premiered at CPH:DOX in the Next:Wave She speaks English (fluently), French (well), and competition. She took part in several international Czech (does her best). She will be incorporating workshops, including MIDPOINT Shorts 2019 as a her new knowledge in her work with Crossroads writer-director, and as of this year she is a script but also looks forward to working with creative consultant trainee at MIDPOINT Feature Launch. teams as a script consultant in Greece and Europe.

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Libra Film Productions 52 Popa Soare St. 023 984 Bucharest CRISSEA IV Romania Romania E [email protected] This film is director’s feature debut. W www.librafilm.net Directed by Vladimir Dembinski Scriptwriter Vladimir Dembinski Producer Bogdan Crăciun Language Romanian Genre drama Estimated budget 850,000 EUR Release date Autumn 2022

Vladimir Dembinski Director, Writer T +40 737 410 244 E [email protected]

Bogdan Crăciun Producer FILM SYNOPSIS COMPANY’S PROFILE AUTHOR’S STATEMENT PRODUCER’S STATEMENT T +40 733 735 909 Adrian is a 30-year-old fisherman who lives Libra Film Productions is an independent Undoubtedly, one of the fundamental expe- This project was initiated after a long-time E [email protected] in Sulina, a small town on the Danube Delta film production company founded by Tu- riences of human existence is the experi- collaboration with Vladimir Dembinski. surrounded by water. He lives with his fa- dor Giurgiu in 1994 and based in Bucharest. ence of constraint. All of human existence We worked together on several projects ther and takes care of him. Together they So far, Libra has produced more than 40 is nothing but a confrontation with various (shorts, teasers, docs), so I had already es- own a small fish shop on the ground floor films, with a focus on international co- types of constraints, which people don’t tablished trust in his creative resources, of their building. Things haven’t been going productions. At Libra we are dedicated discover from the very beginning, but only as well as his capacity for seeing a feature so well for him lately and he’s in a situation to producing arthouse films, and one of our gradually, as they progress through life. The project through. I was also moved by the where he needs money. He finds out that a most important missions is to discover new script at hand firstly deals with the theme idea of the project on a personal level. A cruise ship with foreign tourists is about to voices of local and international cinema. of abandoning one’s family and birthplace story about constraint, wanting freedom, arrive in Tulcea. To get money, Adrian de- Most recently, we produced the feature de- and the need for freedom. Adrian is faced the fear of taking a leap and the courage cides to take his boat and go to Tulcea to but of Tudor Cristian Jurgiu, Iulia Rugina, with a decision that he needs to make over to take chances, which I believe has uni- take tourists on trips to the Delta. There, Dorian Boguta and Mihai Sofronea. In the a very short span of time – namely, the de- versal appeal and great artistic potential. one night, out of curiosity, he enters the past, Libra co-produced films directed by cision to leave the town he’s always lived in. CRISSEA IV has had an extensive develop- cruiser, where he sees his first love, Maria. acclaimed directors such as Eran Riklis, No less importantly, the script illustrates ment period, during which we’ve carefully He hasn’t seen her for almost 10 years now. Alberto Fasulo and Radu Mihaileanu. the issue of migration, which confronts a reworked and challenged aspects of the Soon, they recognise each other and spend society on a downward trend, perpetually script, until we reached what we feel is the night together. They realise that they seeking answers regarding a decent liveli- the best version. We’ve recently received are still in love, so they plan to run away hood. The script is about the presence or a funding confirmation from the Roman- together and give their love another chance. absence of opportunities for the future that ian Film Centre to go into production, and a young man has to deal with and the illu- we are focusing on finding co-production sion that the grass is greener on the other partners and sales agents. side.

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Duracfilm Primátorská 1009/45 18000 Praha 8 THE FRAGILE BEAUTY OF MASCULINITY / KŘEHKÁ KRÁSA MUŽSTVÍ Czech Republic, Slovak Republic Czech Republic E [email protected] This film is director’s feature debut. W www.duracfilm.cz Directed by Andrea Culková Scriptwriter Andrea Culková Silverart Producer Miroslav Novák, Katarína Tichá 4 Krnáčová 811 02 Bratislava Language Czech, Slovak, English Slovakia Genre drama E [email protected] Estimated budget 850,000 EUR W www.silverartfilm.sk Release date 2022

Andrea Culková Director, Writer T +420 777 184 520 E [email protected]

FILM SYNOPSIS COMPANY’S PROFILE AUTHOR’S STATEMENT PRODUCER’S STATEMENT Adam and Iva have been together for over Duracfilm, founded in 2003, is dedicated to Thanks to my connections to the motorbike The writer and director Andrea Culková is 15 years and are married with two teenage creating high-end documentaries, features, community and the rehabilitation centre in known for her passion for the film’s sub- girls. Everything in their lives would be or- short animations and series, always com- Kladruby, most of whose clients are adren- ject, a unique approach in every one of dinary if Adam wasn’t craving to satisfy bining an artistic approach with a passion aline seekers, I had a chance to study the her projects (many of them produced with Miroslav Novák Producer his thirst for adrenaline so often. Over the for the subject. Working also on interna- crisis of masculinity for many years, meet- Duracfilm) and her ambition to address a T +420 774 138 838 course of their marriage, Iva has learned to tional co-productions, such as the award- ing the men attempting to define their life world-wide audience. We chose the topic of E [email protected] swim in this sea of aimless risks and ma- winning feature Children by Jaro Vojtek role as real men. I had to face the question: masculinity and femininity together, and it cho gestures. She forgives her husband for (Beijing IFF), Duracfilm currently produces What does it mean to be a man, but also a fits perfectly, as it is the subject of heated everything – including a nasty accident that films by Czech director Andrea Culková ex- woman, today, when old gender roles seem controversy and has a great potential to costs him a leg or a crazy winter motorbike clusively, e.g. H*art on (DOK Leipzig), Grief out-dated and functional new patterns are engage audiences in an international con- rally which almost kills him. After this last (One World IFF). hard to find? My story touches on an ordi- text like that of an art-house festival film. and nearly fatal injury, Adam ends up in the Silverart is a film production company man- nary middle-aged couple. While Adam´s The film will contain exterior shots reminis- rehabilitation centre where Iva works as a aged by Katarína Krnáčová, an EAVE gradu- basic desire is to be a “virile man”, he is cent of road movies, contrasting with the nurse. Unable to move, he starts to fall in ate and Producers on the Move participant. also struggling with the need for sensibility stereotypical ambience of a sanatorium, love with Iva anew, while she sees that her She produced Little Harbour, the Berli- and responsibility. Iva´s role as an “an- which will be filmed near the scenic area of own inner change and freedom is inevitable nale Crystal Bear winner, and is currently gel” is also challenged, and she has to learn Tromsø (NO). The Kladruby (CZ) rehabilita- and finally decides not to take any more producing the upcoming film by director to set boundaries and accept her own in- tion facility, which we know intimately, is a chances. Adam realizes this too late, and – György Kristóf (whose previous film pre- capacities. My intention is to identify with key location and is secured for the shoot- Katarína Krnáčová Producer instead of feeling remorse, taking responsi- miered at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard). Sil- both characters equally and shift from one ing. We plan an equal co-production be- T +421 905 384 615 bility and putting things in order – he acts verart’s Slovak-German co-production Sum- side to the other. The film’s dark humour tween Duracfilm (CZ) and Silverart (SK), us- E [email protected] like an adrenaline junkie for one last time in mer Rebels is soon to be released, and its contrasts with the story events. ing talents from both countries and adding his life. road-movie Stand Up was the first Slovak a Norwegian partner to the team. film shot green.

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Heretic KYUKA – JOURNEYING TO THE MOON THROUGH THE ENDLESS SEA / KYUKA TAXIDE- Tzavella street 52 154 51 Athens VONDAS STO FEGARI MESA APO TIN APERANDI THALASSA Greece Greece E [email protected] This film is director’s feature debut. W www.heretic.gr Directed by Kostis Charamountanis Scriptwriter Kostis Charamountanis Producer Danae Spathara Language Greek Genre drama, comedy Estimated budget 251,000 EUR Release date 2022

Kostis Charamountanis Director, Writer T +30 698 441 1633 E [email protected]

Danae Spathara Producer FILM SYNOPSIS COMPANY’S PROFILE AUTHOR’S STATEMENT PRODUCER’S STATEMENT T +30 694 414 3005 A single father and his two mischievous Founded by Giorgos Karnavas and Kon- Kyuka - Journeying to the Moon Through Kostis Charamountanis drew Heretic’s at- E [email protected] adult twins take the family sailboat out stantinos Kontovrakis in 2013, Heretic is a the Endless Sea is inspired by real events tention with his short Kioku - Before Sum- for their yearly summer holidays; it’s an company focusing on quality-driven films and people. It is a story immersed in an mer Comes, which won the Motive Award opportunity to repair their fragmented rela- and international co-productions aiming to overwhelming summer – the Greek sum- at Drama International Short FF and the tionship, which lacks mutual respect. Upon work with filmmakers with a natural talent mer, the way I remember it as a kid, with Best Director Award at Athens Interna- arriving on a Greek island, the father be- for storytelling and bringing like-minded its suffocating heat, the buzzing of cicadas tional FF. His shorts impressed us with friends a man who is docked nearby and people together. Giorgos and Kostantinos and vast blue sea. An exaggerated portrayal their wild, original and sensitive nature. the twins come across a little girl who has have been trained at the Binger Film Lab, of summer, a metaphor which emphasizes Reading the first draft of Kyuka - Journey- just lost her mother. Through this incident, EAVE and ACE, are the recipients of the the primordial human madness hidden being to the Moon Through the Endless Sea, the twins unknowingly meet their birth prestigious Co-Production Award - Prix Eu- neath a thin layer of ice, compressed by we were surprised by the authenticity of mother, who had abandoned them when rimages and have both been Producers on contemporary society. This human pathos the project, as Kostis had created a poetic they were babies. Their father soon realises the Move. Their films have been selected is embodied by the father, a patriarch figure universe full of unexpected ideas both on that the man whom he befriended is mar- for A-list festivals and have won numer- that eventually proves his vulnerability as a visual and narrative level, underlined by ried to his ex-wife. The father becomes vul- ous awards around the world. Heretic’s re- he sinks into this madness. The landscape an emotional undercurrent that roots his nerable and mad. He lures the man and his cently produced films are Pari (2020), pre- is the stage for the journey each character film on a deeper level. Kyuka - Journeying family over for dinner and takes revenge on miered at Berlinale’s Panorama, and Kala takes, a journey to substantial maturity, a to the Moon Through the Endless Sea is a his ex-wife by exposing her to her new fam- Azar (2020), premiered at Rotterdam IFF. story of adulthood. Poetry, surrealism and story about adulthood that takes place on a ily and the twins. Overwhelmed, the twins Heretic is currently co-producing Ruben humour blend in with the main dramatic sailing boat. Greek summer forms the film’s violently escape their father’s grasp. They Östlund’s Triangles of Sadness. In 2014, plot, communicating the core theme of the setting, where reality and dreams merge, separate and emerge as individuals, as they Heretic launched Heretic Outreach, the in- story which develops as an experimental, creating an idiosyncratic universe. realise they want different things in life. ternational festivals and sales arm of the spontaneous and handcrafted film full of company. true images and vivid imagination.

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Temporama Litostrojska 17 1000 Ljubljana NEITHER VOICE / NOBEN GLAS Slovenia Slovenia E [email protected] This film is director’s feature debut. Directed by Ester Ivakič Scriptwriter Nika Jurman Producer Andraž Jerič Language Slovenian, Serbian Genre drama Estimated budget 1,125,000 EUR Release date Spring 2023

Ester Ivakič Director T +386 316 532 91 E [email protected]

Nika Jurman Writer T +386 316 342 23 FILM SYNOPSIS COMPANY’S PROFILE AUTHOR’S STATEMENT PRODUCER’S STATEMENT E [email protected] Ida (10) lives in a village in 1970s Yu- Temporama was established in 2013 by I see this film as Ida’s own little bubble Neither Voice, a book of short stories by goslavia. While her parents argue, she lis- producers Jerca Jerič and Andraž Jerič as a that she made up to live in, to protect her- acclaimed writer Suzana Tratnik, grabbed tens to obituaries with her Grandma, who collective of like-minded individuals of the self from her fears and the possibility of our attention from its very first page, mak- means the world to Ida. One day, Grandma upcoming generation of Slovenian filmmak- the loss she is obsessed with. Her loneli- ing us immediately develop it into a film collapses while watering the flowers. Ida ers. Their main intention has been to create ness forces her to experiment alone and while engaging writer Nika Jurman and di- panics. Suddenly the beautiful sound of an environment in which promising tal- process her intense emotions through her rector Ester Ivakič, both of whom we’ve singing begins to resound out of nowhere ent can thrive and a platform where these imagination. The way I remember my child- worked with previously. The tone of the and Grandma finally gets up. Astonished by artists can gain meaningful opportunities hood, the strongest feelings I had were story set in the Slovenian countryside and the power of singing, Ida decides to join the for succeeding in the filmmaking world. those that were almost “made-up”. I feel the humour in the protagonist’s voice is school choir to save Grandma from dying. Since 2013, the collective has grown by Ida’s own personal world lies somewhere very close to Nika’s previous writing, while After turning out to be an awful singer, she attracting film school graduates and inde- in that space. The tone of the film will be the mood, visual themes, and underlying Andraž Jerič Producer is rejected, until a shy girl named Terezka pendent authors and producing several ex- playfully melancholic, somehow protecting emotional drive is something very present T +386 408 884 21 helps her out. But their joy doesn’t last perimental and short films which received Ida from the things a viewer might find mor- in Ester’s earlier shorts as well. The story E [email protected] long, as Ida finds out her Dad is cheating domestic acclaim. In 2018, the company’s bid sooner than she realizes they are. She takes place in a peculiar time in the his- on Mom and, instead of singing, she finds feature Consequences premiered at the finds her love in animals, a magical ghost tory of former Yugoslavia, spans across herself on a bus to Mom’s family in Serbia, Toronto IFF and followed with a successful living next door and the Virgin Mary, which the borders of its republics and, although where she spends the summer. She longs festival and distribution career. With a sta- will also give the film an uplifting, hopeful, a sense of nostalgia might be familiar to to get back to Grandma and constantly ble production output of features, shorts, and sweet atmosphere. older audiences, we also expect the story fights with Mom. When she returns home, experimental films, comedy series and mu- to resonate with younger viewers. We are Ida finds Grandma ill and the family falling sic videos, Temporama has found recogni- in an advanced stage of development and apart, but she tries to grow up and embrace tion in the film industry both at home and are looking for co-producers and potential the change. abroad. sales agents to come on board.

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Semperia Films Tsar Simeon 160 1000 Sofia THE SANCTUARY Bulgaria Bulgaria E [email protected] This film is director’s feature debut. Directed by Katerina Borisova Scriptwriter Aleksandra Genova, Valentina Angelova Producer Eleni Dekidis Language Bulgarian Genre drama Estimated budget 290,000 EUR Release date 2022

Katerina Borisova Director T +359 888 856 376 E [email protected]

Aleksandra Genova Writer T +359 886 396 357 FILM SYNOPSIS COMPANY’S PROFILE AUTHOR’S STATEMENT PRODUCER’S STATEMENT E [email protected] Irina (40), the single mother of Kalina (18), Semperia Films Ltd. was founded in 2016 The Sanctuary tackles the subject of do- The Sanctuary is a feature film project that runs her own fitness center. When her best by film director Katerina Borisova and mestic violence and explores how the addresses one of the most current topics friend is brutally beaten up by her fiancé, producer Eleni Dekidis. They had the op- ruined lives of victims destroy the lives in our society - domestic violence against Irina hides her in a small village where she portunity to work together on a variety of of everybody involved. Our motivation is women. Founded by women, it is part of our used to live 15 years ago before a car ac- projects such as short films, music videos to create an up-to-date image of a war- company mission to promote socially rele- cident killed her husband. The life in the and events in collaboration with well- rior woman and redefine the meaning of vant women’s topics. Frequent tragic news old house resurrects Irina’s darkest se- established agencies and young talents, strength. Who would she be today? Our of this kind in Bulgaria has given us rea- cret – her own past as a victim. Gradually, some of which have joined the company main aspiration is to show how deep and son to believe that shedding light on this Irina transforms the house into a sanctu- as part of the creative team. The mission unhealed trauma can affect the seemingly problem is of great importance to arouse ary where female victims of domestic abuse of Semperia Films is to become a support normal life of a strong woman and how thin concern, as this can happen to all of us. can hide and take care of each other. But platform for inspiring film projects. The the line between victim and abuser actually In order to present such a strong theme Eleni Dekidis Producer problems arise when the media, police and company has produced several award- is. fully, we needed the whole team to work T +359 888 041 421 the husbands start looking for the women. winning shorts and documentaries, and closely together from the very beginning, E [email protected] The relations between Irina and Kalina also is now focusing on developing its first two to build a controversial main character and get tense as Irina becomes more controlling features: The Muse of the Gobelin Mas- a corresponding visual key, described by while still trying to keep the secret of her ter and The Sanctuary, both of which are the director as a “dark poetry style”, which past. The unexpected death of Irina’s best directed by Katerina Borisova. crushes beautiful establishing shots with friend pushes Irina to confess to Kalina the unbalanced compositions. A positive as- dark truth about their own family and the sessment from the National Film Center two team-up to make a global campaign definitely made us believe we are on the named #Talkaboutit to help other victims right creative path. truly heal, not hide.

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SHIPSBOY Czerniakowska 71/613 00-715 Warsaw SARA’S BUNGALOW / BUNGALOW SARY Poland Poland E [email protected] This film is director’s feature debut. Directed by Julia Rogowska Scriptwriter Małgorzata Piłacińska Producer Krystyna Kantor Language Polish Genre dystopian love story Estimated budget 1,200,000 EUR Release date 2023

Julia Rogowska Director T +48 509 224 564 E [email protected]

Małgorzata Piłacińska Writer T +48 609 022 896 FILM SYNOPSIS COMPANY’S PROFILE AUTHOR’S STATEMENT PRODUCER’S STATEMENT E [email protected] Sara and Inkar were happily married. When SHIPSBOY is a Warsaw based production Sara’s Bungalow is primarily a love story Sara’s Bungalow is a character driven film, the anti-aging vaccine was invented, they company working in features and serialised set against the backdrop of a dystopian which will use the mechanisms of a drama naturally promised each other they would storytelling and focusing on international world, where youth represents the highest to tell a story that reflects on today’s soci- age together. But Inkar betrayed Sara, and projects. Founded in 2013, it is now man- value. Old people have been pushed to the ety and is relatable to the audience. It is a secretly took the vaccine. The film starts aged by Joanna Szymanska, a producer outskirts of society so as not to annoy and familiar romantic tale with a main protag- fifteen years later with the 70-year-old Sara with 15 years of experience in film pro- distract those who are trying to cheat na- onist that is utterly atypical for the genre. living in the National Old People’s Refuge duction and an EFA board member. The ture. The creation of this futuristic situation We see Sara as a strong female lead on a on the outskirts of society. Impulsive by company is currently working on a slate of allows us to talk about something very cur- journey that should resonate with women nature, she breaks the law and is forced audience-engaging, character-driven films rent and timeless. Love, betrayal and the of all ages. The creative duo behind the to seek refuge in the City of Youth. As she such as Mission Ulja Funk (DE/LU/PL), a way our society perceives aging and female project are two filmmakers whose ideas can’t stay there either, she needs money family comedy, and Tete Coupee, a drama sexuality. Emotions play the main part here, and visions flow into each other. Małgorzata to run away and can only get it from Inkar. in co-production with France and Tunisia. and the bizarre love triangle between the brings out the heart of Sara’s journey while Krystyna Kantor Producer Pretending to be Inkar’s mother, she moves Its recent co-production, Adventures of a main characters creates an intimate drama Julia has her own visual storytelling style, T +48 512 733 112 in with him and his girlfriend – Layla, until Mathematician, premiered in January 2020 about the right to love, desire and joie de which will smoothly connect the specifics E [email protected] he gives her the money. A strange love- at the Palm Springs IFF. SHIPSBOY’s goal vivre in general, regardless of age. of this dystopian world with the story’s in- triangle unfolds as Sara and Inkar rekindle is to build and develop long lasting rela- timacy, allowing it to flourish on screen. We their love. Sara begins her journey to awak- tionships with up-and-coming talents - it believe this film will cross borders and res- ening and acceptance. She learns to for- works with first-time writers and directors onate with a European audience, and there- give, and while acknowledging the love she on a slate of diverse scripts. SHIPSBOY is a fore we see it as a co-production. Shooting has lost and coming to terms with her own member of the Polish Producers Alliance. is planned for 2022. We are looking for in- life choices, she finds a desire to live. ternational co-producers, financiers, sales agents and distributors.

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Portokal 137 Evlogi Georgiev Blvd. 1504 Sofia TWO TIMES ONE / DVE PO EDNO Bulgaria Bulgaria E [email protected] This film is director’s feature debut. Directed by Vladimir Petev Scriptwriter Vladimir Petev Producer Vanya Rainova Language Bulgarian Genre drama Estimated budget 480,500 EUR Release date 2022

Vladimir Petev Director, Writer T +359 897 209 957 E [email protected]

Vanya Rainova Producer T +359 887 916 692 FILM SYNOPSIS COMPANY’S PROFILE AUTHOR’S STATEMENT PRODUCER’S STATEMENT E [email protected] Victor, a charismatic politician, aims to Portokal is a boutique production company The characters in Two Times One follow Two Times One is an organic hybrid be- become an MP when his 10-year-old son, supporting emerging and established film- parallel paths that strive to be united, but tween a political thriller and a father-son Dani, re-enters his life after the sudden makers in their author-driven work since do not fit with ease. Bent on achieving his relationship drama. We envision the film as death of his mother. Victor adapts with the 2011. Its documentaries and short fiction aspirations at all cost, Victor is blind to a bilateral coproduction with a CEE coun- bravado of a man who is used to being in films have competed at some of the world’s the needs and emotions of his son. The try, which will allow us to work comfortably control. Quick to turn vulnerability into ad- most prestigious festivals, including IDFA, closer Victor gets to his goal, the further his within this debut’s modest but sustainable vantage, he tries to fold Dani into the world DOK Leipzig, Hot Docs, Vision du Reel, Lo- son drifts away. By the time he is forced budget. The project’s greatest achieve- of political backroom dealings. Dani, how- carno IFF, and won awards at Clermont Fer- to re-evaluate his priorities, Victor has ment is the narrative flow and aesthetic ever, finds himself out of his element and rand ISFF, ZINEBI, Krakow IFF, Yerevan IFF failed both at being a father and securing coherence it brings to a premise that rests retreats, becoming more of a silent witness. and others. Portokal is now producing Euro- glory. Yet, despite — or because of — his on duality. It offers an edge-of-your-seat As the stakes rise for Victor, so does the pean feature films that have a distinct voice flaws, he retains our empathy. At first, the plot, treated by a director with an arthouse disturbing effect of Dani’s presence. Grasp- and aesthetics. It is in postproduction with fast-paced, high-stakes political world that sensibility who stays attuned to the un- ing for a quick fix, Victor leaves Dani in the Andrey Paounov’s feature January (2020, Victor inhabits grants an all-important pur- dercurrents of this dynamic world — the care of the boy’s grandmother in a distant BG/PT/LUX) and has several features in pose to his deeds. Seen through the eyes subtle yet tectonic shifts in the relationship village. But just when Victor has cleared the development: Stefka Mancheva’s Blind of Dani, however, it is just a bigger sandbox of the characters, who are flawed, yet lik- way to his goal, it begins to lose its allure. Spot (developed at First Films First, Talents for bigger boys to play in. The visual style able. This duality also shapes and enables Deprived of his drive and alertness, Victor Sarajevo Pack&Pitch), Yana Titova’s Dyad mirrors this duality. Through shifting points our ambition to launch a successful inter- is blindsided by a set-up that ends his po- (developed at ScripTeast) and Vladimir Pe- of view, we juxtapose the perspectives of national festival life for the film and cross litical career. Victor heads back to get Dani. tev’s Two Times One (developed at MID- two incompatible world views - one driven over to meet a wide audience in domestic The journey, however, might be longer than POINT Feature Launch). and rational, the other more introverted. and international cinemas. he had hoped for.

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NANA 143 Beogradska 3 15300 Loznica USUD Serbia Serbia T +381 611 776 853 Directed by Stefan Malešević E [email protected] Scriptwriter Stefan Malešević Producer Andrijana Sofranić Šućur Set Sail Films Language Old Slavonic Beogradska 3 Genre drama, fantasy 15300 Loznica Estimated budget 947,000 EUR Serbia Release date 2024 T +381 611 776 853 E [email protected]

Stefan Malešević Director, Writer T +31 684 385 083 E [email protected]

FILM SYNOPSIS COMPANY’S PROFILE AUTHOR’S STATEMENT PRODUCER’S STATEMENT In a Slavic pagan village, two brothers – the NANA 143 was established in 2016 by The ambiguous notion that we are the mas- Stefan is a young director with versatile ex- hard-working Mladen and lazy Radovan Andrijana Sofranić Šućur. It focuses on ters of our own destinies even if they are perience in the film industry and a unique – inherit a farm after their parents die. auteur-driven films for both festival and predetermined is what drew me to this tale. director’s voice. He has made two inter- Mladen’s frustration with his brother’s re- theatrical distribution and presents a meet- Mladen achieves what no one could imag- nationally successful features: the docu- laxed attitude leads to the division of the ing point for young artists with distinctive ine - meeting Usud (whose name literally mentary Gora and fictional work Mamonga Andrijana Sofranić Šućur Producer estate, after which Mladen’s luck takes a stories. The company’s first feature, Ma- means “destiny”) and being able to ask (KVIFF 2019). During Mamonga, Stefan and I T +381 611 776 853 turn for the worse: grains don’t grow, fruit monga premiered in 2019 at KVIFF. NANA questions - only to find out this divine en- developed deep trust and efficient commu- E [email protected] rots, animals die and the troubles don’t 143 is currently in postproduction of Roots, tity has no answers. The image of a god nication, which was a great starting point subside despite his diligence. When every- a hybrid documentary, and in production shrugging in ignorance resonated with my for developing Usud. Usud is based on leg- thing fails, he sets out to find the reason of two animated shorts. In 2019, Andri- struggles caused by the limits of human ends from Stefan’s family that are woven behind his misfortune, starting a long and jana joined forces with producers Marija perception. The film will start in the 20th into the narrative of a folktale known in all adventurous journey to Usud, the god re- Stojnić and Miloš Ivanović to establish Set century, but as it progresses the costume Slavic cultures. But, what makes this film sponsible for assigning destinies to people. Sail Films, a partner company for the Usud and set-design will gradually become more universally appealing is the innovative di- It turns out that Usud has no real power or project. It established firm regional con- inconsistent, combining elements from dif- rector’s approach and its distinctive visual knowledge, but simply assigns destinies nections and co-produced with Croatia, BiH ferent eras. The sound design will rely on language. It took part in the MFI script2film based on a predetermined set of rules. and Montenegro. With its projects in devel- ambient sounds, using intensive traditional program and was awarded as the most Mladen returns to his village broken, but opment, Set Sail Films is aiming to expand Balkan music at times to contrast the si- promising project with direct access to wiser, trying to reconcile with his brother its network with producers from other Eu- lence. Photography will employ a similar Crossroads CoPro Market, where it won the and unite the family property again. ropean countries. It produces fiction, doc- approach, with stark contrasts and a large main award. It was part of the International umentary and animation projects, but also unlit area. Just like Mladen has troubles Project Discovery Forum and Sofia Meet- takes part in numerous non-profit cultural finding the path in his world, the audience ings. Usud recently received support from activities focused on film. should also feel somewhat uneasy. the Hubert Bals Fund grant.

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BOSONFILM Davida Guramishvili str. 12 03148 Kyiv VACUUM / VAKUUM Ukraine Ukraine E [email protected] This film is director’s feature debut. Directed by Yelizaveta Smith Scriptwriter Yelizaveta Smith Producer Aleksandra Kostina Language Ukrainian Genre drama Estimated budget 710,000 EUR Release date October 2022

Yelizaveta Smith Director, Writer T +38 063 393 0004 E [email protected]

Aleksandra Kostina Producer T +38 067 297 7357 FILM SYNOPSIS COMPANY’S PROFILE AUTHOR’S STATEMENT PRODUCER’S STATEMENT E [email protected] A man disappears from his workplace. The Bosonfilm is a recently established com- When a person is gone, a void remains. The first time I met the director, I was police start an investigation and find the pany, producing both national films and Some parts of the world freeze in a con- touched by the story of Vacuum and her missing man’s only relative – his grown-up international co-productions and focusing stant memory of the missing, while some, intention to show a missing man through daughter Marta, who works as an archae- mainly on first and second feature films. Its on the contrary, are erased without leav- the emptiness that is left behind him. In ologist. She has to return to her native city upcoming projects are features Pamfir by ing a trace of the person behind. The film Ukraine, this matter remains a highly im- to settle the legal issues, hoping to sell her Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, selected for will open with static frames of these empty portant and emotional one, and boards missing father’s apartment and return to Cinefondation Residence of the Cannes IFF, spaces related to Marta’s missing father. with photos of missing kids and adults are her usual life as soon as possible. Martha’s co-produced with Madants (Poland) and His abandoned apartment, a vacant place everywhere. There is also no tradition of missing father was a grave robber, which Les Films D’Ici (France), supported by the at his friends’ table, and an empty cof- exploring the other perspective of the prob- is an unbearable disgrace for grown-up Ukrainian State Film Agency, Polish Film fin show us the presence of absence. But, lem and speaking about the loss of those Marta. Unexpectedly, Marta is confronted Institute and the Vision Sud Est film fund, when Marta enters these spaces, her per- who experienced it. The journey of the main with feelings for her missing father, who and Vacuum by award-winning Ukrainian ception changes – the camera begins to character is a way to find an answer to she never really knew. She starts looking director Yelizaveta Smith, whose previ- move along with her inner transformation where human beings stay and whether we for leads that could help her learn more. ous film School #3 received the Grand Prix and the plot. Marta rediscovers her father’s stay at all. It also seeks a way to deal with Alongside all the bureaucratic red-tape, of Generation 14+ for Best Film at Berli- identity through these voids left after him. loss and feel emptiness. This project is a Marta meets the neighbors’ son, Liubchyk, nale 2017. Bosonfilm is run by Aleksandra The story takes place in a sunny port city in striking authorial expression with a promis- and realizes that he is most likely her half- Kostina, whose previous executive pro- late summer. All turning points happen at ing creative duo of Berlinale award-winning brother. They quickly become true friends ducer’s credits include The Tribe (Semaine dusk, when the human eye lacks light and director Yelizaveta Smith and Sundance and Marta gradually becomes a part of a de la Critique), Evge (Un Certain Regard), information, as imagination changes forms award-winning DOP Vyacheslav Tsvetkov world she wanted to forget so much. and Partenonas (International Critics’ Week around Marta. According to Plato, humans on board. The project is now in the late Venice). are already born with knowledge, and they development stage and we’re looking for only need to rediscover it. partners to fulfill its international potential.

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WORKS IN PROGRESS JURY

GABOR GREINER FARUK GÜVEN VANJA KALUDJERČIĆ After his studies in Cultural Management in Vienna, Faruk started his career as an assistant producer Vanja Kaludjerčić has been appointed as the new Birmingham and Chicago, Gabor GREINER worked in 2008 at the News and Sports Department at TRT International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) festi- as a journalist and film critic. In 2003, he moved to (Turkish Radio and TV Corporation). He has pro- val director. Beginning in her new role in February Brussels to take charge of the distribution support duced more than 100 episodes of news, sports, 2020, she will lead the organisation in its future department of the MEDIA Program at the European economic and documentary shows. He took his endeavours and act as the artistic voice of the fes- Commission’s Film Fund. In 2009, Gabor became first master‘s degree in business and finance in tival. Kaludjerčić brings with her a wealth of indus- acquisitions executive at the international sales Turkey, and went on to Los Angeles for his second try experience, both internationally and within the agent The Match Factory. In August 2010, Gabor master‘s degree. He then graduated from the New Dutch film landscape – she was previously the di- moved to Berlin to become COO of the French- York Film Academy’s Master of Fine Arts in Film- rector of acquisitions at MUBI, and held prior roles German sales company Films Boutique, winner of making. He produced and directed several short at Les Arcs European Film Festival, Sarajevo Film the Golden Bear in 2017 and 2020 and the Golden movies in Los Angeles. Since 2014, he has been Festival, Netherlands Film Festival (NFF) and even Lion in 2011 and 2016. Gabor is a member of the working for TRT Television Department as an ex- IFFR itself, where she used her industry knowledge European Film Academy. ecutive producer. He has worked as an executive to reshape IFFR Talks & Masterclasses from 2016 producer for more than 10 feature films, minis- to 2018. Kaludjerčić has also recently served as a eries and short films for TV. He is now continuing jury member at Berlinale, International Documen- his career as the Head of Co-Productions at TRT. tary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), CPH:DOX and For three years, he has been a jury member for the many more festivals around the globe. International Emmy Awards in the TV Films and Miniseries Category. He has also been a member of the TV Committee in the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) since 2019.

THE POST-PRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT AWARD JURY

IVO MARÁK Head of Film & TV Services Department, UPP KAREL OCH Artistic Director, Karlovy Vary IFF MICHAELA PATRÍKOVÁ Representative of Sound Square

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i/o post Dienzenhoferovy sady 1 106min, Iran, Czech Republic, Slovak Re- 15000 Praha 5 ABSENCE public Czech Republic E [email protected] This is the film’s final distribution title. W www.iopost.cz Directed by Ali Mosaffa Scriptwriter Ali Mosaffa Producer Ali Mosaffa, Jordi Niubó, Filip Remunda, Silvia Panáková, Eric Panák Camera Massoud Salami Cast Ali Mosaffa, Zuzana Stivínová, Magdalena Borová, Petra Nesvačilová, Zuzana Kronerová, Antonie Formanová, Klára Melíšková, Leila Hatami Language English, Persian, Czech Genre mystical thriller Release date 07/10/2020 Ali Mosaffa Director, Producer, Scriptwriter What’s missing sales agent, additional T +989 123 370 236 financing for the postproduction E [email protected]

Jordi Niubó Producer FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT T +420 604 703 308 Rouzbeh arrives in Prague, far away from Ali Mosaffa started directing films in 2005 Mosaffa began producing his own movie I have always been enchanted by stories E [email protected] his troubled family life in Tehran, and im- (after years of professional acting). His The Last Step in 2012. His second produc- in which someone is trying to understand merses himself in research into his father’s Portrait of a Lady Far Away had its premiere tion in 2014, What’s the Time In Your World, someone else’s predicaments, the situa- past as a communist expatriate in Czecho- in the main competition of Karlovy Vary won awards at Fajr and Busan festivals. tion which brought about their misery and slovakia. Upon visiting the flat where his IFF and was shortlisted for the Sutherland Some of his other productions are: the undulations which directed them to the father lived 50 years ago, he’s stopped Trophy at London Film Festival. His second Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness (2019 – point of no return. The protagonist is grad- by a policewoman who’s investigating a feature The Last Step won the FIPRESCI French coproduction, Grand Jury Prize in ually stripped bare of all his own personal recent accident. The resident of the flat Award at Karlovy Vary 2012 and also the the World Cinema Dramatic category at pursuits and is instead prepared, like an (Vladimir) has fallen out of the window and Best Actress Award for its lead actress Sundance) empty container, to embrace those of an- we find that his father’s name is identical Leila Hatami. It also received awards in A Hairy Tale (2018 – awarded at Warsaw other. It would be even more challenging if to Rouzbeh’s – thus, Vladimir is his half- Fajr, Batumi, Kerala and other festivals. and Fajr festivals) the second party was absent and the entire brother. As he discovers the hidden corners clue was what remained of his life. of Vladimir’s life and gets closer to his soul, he learns a shocking fact about his father, which is in total contrast to the hero he admired. This sets him on a path that is identical to the one which caused Vladimir to fall out of the window.

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The Imaginarium Films Jabal Al-Weibdeh, Kullyet Al-Sharea Street, Build- ing no.5, PO Box 910403 THE ALLEYS / ZIQAQ 113min, Jordan, Qatar, France, Saudi Arabia 11191 Amman Jordan This is the film’s final distribution title. E [email protected] This film is director’s feature debut. W http://www.theimaginariumfilms.com/ Directed by Bassel Ghandour Scriptwriter Bassel Ghandour Producer Rula Nasser Camera Justin Hamilton Music Nasser Sharaf Cast Emad Muhtaseb, Maisa Abdul Hadi, Monther Rayahneh Language Arabic Genre drama, noir Release date 10/01/2020 What’s missing colour correction, sound postproduction, sound mix, packaging and Bassel Ghandour Director exports T +962 795 522 623 E [email protected]

FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT Rula Nasser Producer The Alleys tells the story of a gossip-ridden, Bassel co-wrote and produced Theeb, the The Imaginarium Films was established I immersed myself in a world and heard T +1 416 948 3611 violent neighbourhood. At its heart is a 2016 nominee for Best Foreign Language in 2010 with an aim at creating original many tales and whispers as I made my E [email protected] charming hustler pretending to be a white- Film at both the Academy Awards and the audio-visual content that is captivating to rounds through the alleys of the neigh- collar career man. He is secretly involved in BAFTAs. He has also directed Freekeh, a audiences regionally and internationally. bourhood. The gossip, as one would expect, a relationship with an innocent and playful short film set in the same worldThe as Al- The company was founded by Rula Nasser, was tainted before it landed on my ears, so young lady, but their romance is caught on leys. Bassel is currently directing Five Foot- who has accumulated experience in various it was impossible to tell the truth from lies camera by an extortionist and the embar- ball Dreams, a documentary following five aspects of production from commercials, and exaggerations. Research is key to my rassing video is sent to her mother. Hoping Syrian footballers working hard at turn- TV series and low budget films all the way process. For this film, I spent a lot of time to avoid public embarrassment, the mother ing pro after being recruited by a Brazilian to big budget studio films. She began with in the population of the dense neighbour- discreetly convinces a gangster to put a football club. His screenplay for The Alleys BBC Channel & Discovery Channel projects hoods of East Amman, where gossip and stop to it all… but things don’t go accord- was selected to participate at Rawi (with in the Middle East, a journey that involved violence dictate life. So I wrote the story as ing to plan and all of their lives collide not the Sundance Institute), EAVE workshops self-exploration of local stories and tal- if it were the gossip I’d heard in the alleys – just with each other, but with others in the and Sorfond Pitching Forum. The Alleys is ents across Jordan, and later joined the it is embellished and twisted, but the truth neighbourhood. Bassel’s directorial debut. He is a gradu- Royal Film Commission in 2005 for devel- exists inside it somewhere. ate of the School of Cinematic Arts at the oping the Filmmaker’s Support Program. Therefore, on some level, this film to me is University of Southern California. The Imaginarium Films has produced more a cautionary tale of a society that holds un- than 9 films and line produced films that reasonable, unnatural social expectations. have been selected for prestigious international festivals, e.g.: Transit Cities (FiPRESCI Award, Dubai 2010), The Last Friday (Berlin IFF, 2012), Waiting for P.O. Box (Cannes IFF, 2013).

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Utopia Films 28, rue Belhcine Jerad. Bab El Khadhra 1002 Tunis BLACK MEDUSA / HORRIGUA 90min, Tunisia, Luxembourg Tunisia E [email protected] This is the film’s working title and may change. This film is director’s feature debut. Directed by ismaël, Youseff Chebbi Scriptwriter ismaël, with the collaboration of Youssef Chebbi Producer ismaël Camera Imed Aissaoui Cast Nour Hajri, Rym Hayouni, Aymen Ben Hamida, Aymen Mejri, Karim Remadi, Ala Eddine Slim, Mehdi Hajri Language Arabic, French, English ismaël Director, Producer, Scriptwriter, Editor Genre drama, thriller, fantasy T +21 656 787 034 Release date 10/01/2020 E [email protected] What’s missing final editing, sound post- production, color grading, additional financing for the postproduction around 50.000 euros

FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT In today’s Tunis, Nada is 25 years old. ismaël is the scriptwriter and director of ismaël is the producer of the feature nar- Black Medusa is a genre film on the issue She is hard of hearing and communicates Leila’s Blues (a narrative short premiered at rative The Last of Us (Lion of the Future at of gender. From thriller to fantasy, through through a Smartphone app. She leads a Cannes Director’s Fortnight in 2018 and the Venice Biennale, Tunisian entry for the certain codes of film noir with a femme fa- lonely life and works as a web video con- awarded at the African Film Festival of Oscars, theatrical release in Tunisia and tale character or even a thriller with a serial tent editor for a start-up. Montreal in 2019). His experimental work France). killer, the film deflects expectations on this But every weekend at night, Nada turns Fragments of Self-phone-destruction was In 2017, ismaël created the production com- topic and constantly oscillates between into a femme fatale: she dresses in black awarded at the Experimental and Different pany Utopia Films, with which he’s produc- genres. and walks the bars looking for men. She Cinema International Festival, Paris 2019. ing all the projects he’s currently working The story is told in an elliptical manner and becomes confident and in control. Nada Black Medusa is co-directed with Youssef on as a director. the sharp editing creates a tense atmos- closes the trap on her prey by drugging Chebbi, director of Heading North in 2010 These include The Syrians, international phere and an incisive film. them. In the men’s houses, she sexually and The Depths in 2013 (both in competi- coproduction with Les Valseurs from With Black Medusa, we wanted to res- abuses them and leaves them unconscious. tion at the Clermont-Ferrand International France, Tavma from Germany and Orjouane olutely avoid any psychologizing or moraliz- Black Medusa is a contemporary rein- Short Film Festival). Productions from Lebanon (awarded a grant ing. We feel that it’s more thrilling to catch terpretation of the Medusa myth in the The two have already co-directed a feature by IDFA Bertha Fund, the Arab Fund for the audience’s attention through the mys- #MeToo era through genre films. It is also documentary together alongside Ala Eddine Arts and Culture, the Tunisian-French Co- tery and atmosphere. The suspense and both the portrait of a young woman in post- Slim entitled Babylon (Grand Prix at the FID production Fund, and awarded 4 times in pace of the film arise from this enigmatic revolutionary Tunisia and the portrait of the Marseilles). the framework of Dubai Film Connection starting point. city of Tunis. 2017).

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PANSIONATI Vazha Pshavela Block 6, Building 22, Apt 43 0186 Tbilisi FIELD / VELI 200min, Georgia Georgia E [email protected] This is the film’s working title and may change. Terra Incognita Films Directed by Lasha Tskvitinidze Akaki Tsereteli ave. 2 Scriptwriter Lasha Tskvitinidze 0179 Tbilisi Producer Nodar Nozadze, Giorgi Kobalia, Georgia Nato Sikharulidze T +995 557 962 188 Camera Irakli Metreveli E [email protected] Cast Nika Natsvlishvili, Tamuna Berikishvili, Giorgi Khurtsilava, Zaza Salia Language Georgian Genre drama, comedy Release date 05/18/2021 What’s missing additional shooting, additional financing to complete the shooting

Lasha Tskvitinidze Director T +995 551 377 254 E [email protected]

FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT Nika and Salome are a young couple with Lasha Tskvitinidze was born on 18.01.1988 Nodar Nozadze is a film editor and pro- Human behaviour is determined by two a new-born son. Nika is unemployed. Sa- in Tbilisi, Georgia. He studied film direc- ducer from Tbilisi, Georgia. He was born in things: goals and needs. Needs are satis- lome works as a cleaner. Gigilo and his tion at Tbilisi State University. In 2012, he Borjomi, Georgia in 1989. He studied film fied by the people next to us. And our goals uncle are drug addicts and criminals. They participated in the Berlinale and Sarajevo direction at the Tbilisi University of Theater are influenced by their actions. When de- Giorgi Kobalia Producer take advantage of Nika’s infantilism and de- talent campuses. In 2014, he shot his debut and Film. Nodar has been editing Georgian veloping, space is constructed subjectively T +995 557 962 188 ceive him into participating in various mis- feature I’m Beso, which premiered in the feature-length and short films since 2008, by the individual. E [email protected] sions. Salome clandestinely joins a sect, competition program at Sarajevo IFF and and has worked with the majority of cur- I tried to show what causes a human be- where they believe that a great flood will won the Tbilisi IFF Grand Prix. He is current Georgian directors. In 2012, together ing’s personal growth, and to answer the destroy everything. Nika continually re- rently working on his second feature film with his long-time friend Lasha Tskvitinidze, question of whether human beings have fuses to join the sect and forbids her to Field. he founded the PANSIONATI production power over their own freedom – or whether attend their gatherings. Gigilo makes Nika company and in 2013 produced I’m Beso, they are predestined by causes that are into an abuser, causing damage to his men- which was written and directed by Lasha out of their control. Behind the veil of kind- tal health and turning him into a murderer. Tskvitinidze. He’s currently producing Lasha ness, good moral values and intentions hide Salome is forced to flee together with her Tskvitinidze’s second feature Field and the harsh and vulgar instinctive forces - in- child to India, where she tries to cut ties feature documentary Roma and the Camel compatible, ineradicable monsters of the with her past traumas and goes on a jour- Man directed by Irakli Metreveli. subconscious. Without them, human beings ney into new and unknown feelings. would be as idle as stones. Nodar Nozadze Producer Field - like my previous films, this work T +995 599 298 216 will be about a harsh reality that is told by E [email protected] using humour.

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Vertigo Visual 74, Skupi 3 1000 Skopje SNOW WHITE DIES AT THE END / SNEŽANA NA KRAJOT UMIRA 111min, North Macedonia North Macedonia E [email protected] This film is director’s feature debut. W www.vertigo.mk This is the film’s working title and may change. Directed by Kristijan Risteski Scriptwriter Kristijan Risteski Producer Darko Popov Camera Sevdije Kastrati, Dimo Popov Cast Verica Nedeska, Nataša Petrović, Saško Kocev, Deniz Abdula, Ivica Dimitrijević, David Janakiev, Tino Kostadinovski Language Macedonian, Turkish Genre comedy, drama Kristijan Risteski Director Release date 01/15/2021 T +389 752 874 00 What’s missing music, sound design, color E [email protected] grading, final mix

Darko Popov Producer FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT T +389 782 558 67 Shown through three different threads, Kristijan Risteski is director of two narra- Darko Popov is a producer focused on We live in a world that is worse than the E [email protected] Snow White Dies at the End is a story about tive short films, a medium length narra- author-driven films. He has produced two world our parents lived in. Technology has three groups of people whose paths cross, tive TV film, two documentary TV series feature films – Punk’s Not Dead and Year done more harm than good. So-called pros- impacting one another and changing their and more than fifty TV commercials. Snow of the Monkey, which were screened at nu- perity has brought opulence to the few lives’ courses – it is a love thread about White Dies at the End is his feature debut. merous festivals worldwide and won many and poverty to the many. Democracy has two socially challenged misfits from the His short film Remain Upright!! premiered awards. brought more corruption than justice. Our fringes of society, a friendship thread of at Sarajevo Film Festival and was selected abundance of information hasn’t made us three childhood friends, now in their mid- for more than twenty other festivals – Palm as profound as it has shallow. 30s, who are born too late for their own Springs International ShortFest, San Fran- Our film is a story of human kindness, de- values, and a commitment thread of a cisco International Film Festival, Melbourne cency, integrity and joie de vivre. It aims to woman who promised her best friend on International Film Festival, Molodist Kyiv question contemporary societies, mostly her deathbed that she would look after her International Film Festival, Brussels Short regarding issues of ethics and sound judge- junkie teenage son after she dies. Film Festival, etc. ment, and to present the audience with six They all struggle to preserve their lives as amazing human beings that will somehow they were before the world became dehu- manage to exist, although today, more than manized by virtual communication and the ever, they need to fight as hard as they can aggressive encroachment of politics, tech- just to be able to stay true to their own val- nology and media upon our existence. ues.

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ESSE Production House 70A Saksahanskoho Street 01032 Kyiv STOP-ZEMLIA 90min, Ukraine Ukraine E [email protected] This is the film’s working title and may W www.essehouse.com change. This film is director’s feature debut. No English title available at the moment. Directed by Kateryna Gornostai Scriptwriter Kateryna Gornostai Producer Vitaliy Sheremetiev, Viktoriia Khomenko, Olga Beskhmelnytsina, Natalia Libet Camera Oleksandr Roshchyn Cast Maria Fedorchenko, Oleksandr Ivanov, Arseniy Markov, Yana Isayenko, Serhey Derevyanko, Inna Belikova, Olesia Kateryna Gornostai Director Ostrovska T +38 093 748 6965 Language Ukrainian E [email protected] Genre drama Release date 02/01/2021 What’s missing festivals, additional financing or partners for the post- production stage, sales agent, distribution

Viktoriia Khomenko Producer FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT T +38 097 469 8765 The film presents a story about first sen- Kateryna Gornostai is a director and film ESSE Production House is the first full- I was interested in a structure that would E [email protected] sual experiences, love, friendship, and editor who was born and lives in Ukraine. service film production company in turn the remote object of passion into a responsibility. 16-year-old Masha is ex- Film critics note her special style and abil- Ukraine. Since 1991, our company has de- full-fledged person who develops his own periencing the intense routine of her pre- ity to portray life without artificiality. In livered more than 800 commercials and universe in a parallel narrative line. The graduation year. Her close friends Iana and 2015, her short film Away received the Best music videos as well as numerous TV se- film is built on the points of intersection Senya support Masha and share this ex- Film Award at the National Competition of ries and feature films. The company’s work between two main characters; however, perience with her. So do her parents, who Molodist IFF. Kateryna started her career has been recognized by various awards what occurs in the background of their in spite of being anxious for their daughter as a documentary filmmaker in 2012. Sub- and nominations. Our titles also include lives is more important, even though they still give her the freedom to act and think sequently, she shifted to fiction films and Parthenon (Lithuania, Ukraine, France / fail to appreciate it. We managed to find on her own. One more troubling detail that hybrid forms. Now she is also involved in 2019) by Mantas Kvedaravičius, which pre- real teens based on their biographies and occupies Masha’s mind is her classmate educational projects and teaches docu- miered at the 34th Critics Week at the 76th arranged a 9-week acting prep lab for them. Sasha, who tests her courage at a crucial mentary filmmaking. Stop-Zemlia (original Venice Film Festival in September 2019, Even though the script was originally writ- Natalia Libet Producer moment. title) is her first feature film (Best Pitch and and Anna (Ukraine, UK, Israel / 2019) by ten with dialogues, it was crucial for me T +38 067 502 2199 Producer’s Network Awards at Connecting Dekel Berenson, which premiered at the that the actors play out their characters E [email protected] Cottbus 2017). short competition program of the 72nd with the features of their own speech and Cannes Film Festival in May 2019 and was reactions to get a realistic performance. awarded the BIFA for the Best Short Film 2019.

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Tritone Studio Terbatas iela 49/51-11 LV 1011 Riga TROUBLED MINDS / NEMIERĪGIE PRĀTI 110min, Latvia, Norway Latvia T +371 298 864 22 This is the film’s final distribution title. E [email protected] This film is director’s feature debut. W www.filmstritone.com Directed by Lauris Ābele, Raitis Ābele Scriptwriter Raitis Ābele, Lauris Ābele, Zanda Zeidaka Producer Roberts Vinovskis, Raitis Ābele, Kristele Pudane Camera Marcis Ābele Cast Toms Aunins, Marcis Lacis, Daniela Vetra, Darta Danevica, Juris Zagars, Marija Skangale Language Latvian Website www.filmstritone.com/troubledminds Genre dramedy Raitis Ābele Director, Producer, Scriptwriter Release date 10/15/2020 T +371 298 864 22 What’s missing studio and partners for the E [email protected] final sound mix

FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT Lauris Ābele Director, Scriptwriter T +371 296 815 54 Brothers Robert and Martin are one month As the brothers are three filmmakers, they The main story of the film is about two Raitis and Lauris Ābele are Latvian film- E [email protected] away from their contemporary art exhibi- makers born in Riga, Latvia. They mostly are able to share responsibilities. In Trou- brothers and the loss of control. It’s also tion. In an effort to get his creative juices work together with their third brother Mar- bled Minds, Raitis Ābele takes part not only an exploration of what is supposed to be flowing, Martin confines himself to adark, cis Ābele (D.O.P.) as a trio. The brothers’ as director but also as one of the produc- normal and what is not. It’s a contemplation black cube – alone, for nine days. Once out, career took off after winning the Grand Prix ers of the film together with his friend and about what it means to be an artist, to be the brothers begin to lose control through at Tampere Short Film Festival in 2015 with mentor Roberts Vinovskis (producer and independent, to be true and to make sac- a series of bad ideas, psychedelics and the short film Castratus the Boar. After its co-producer of several successful feature rifices. Two of our best childhood friends a total lack of sleep. Martin’s behaviour success, they made the historical docud- films) and Kristele Pudane. were diagnosed as bipolar. Later, one of becomes more extravagant and unpre- rama Baltic Tribes | Last Pagans of Europe Raitis Ābele produced the short sci-fi Left- them committed suicide. During our time dictable. The tension between the brothers (released in cinemas in Latvia and Lithua- overs and Leftlovers (2017), which was together, we’ve witnessed many funny but increases as they make a daunting per- nia) and now they are working on their de- screened at European and US film festi- also tragic situations. When we couldn’t un- formance and things ultimately erupt at but feature film – a psychedelic cinema trip vals. The docudrama Baltic Tribes | Last derstand what was going on in the brains of an exclusive gathering for investors and and dramedy called Troubled Minds (to be Pagans of Europe (2018) was released in our friends, I (Raitis) went to study psychol- Roberts Vinovskis Producer contemporary artists. Martin flees and es- released in late 2020). cinemas in Latvia and Lithuania and is now ogy and ended up being a clinical psychol- T +371 292 8667 capes to Saami Lapland, the very edge of Apart from this, the brothers compose mu- being distributed worldwide. ogist. Because of the personal experience, E [email protected] the world. Robert begins a journey to find sic in two rock and post-metal bands – education and long friendship I and my his bipolar brother. Soundarcade and Sonntags Legion. brothers feel, we had to make this film.

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Munk Studio - Polish Filmmakers Association Panska 85 00-834 Warsaw WIAROŁOM 73min, Poland Poland E [email protected] This film is director’s feature debut. W www.munkstudio.eu This is the film’s working title and may change. No English title available at the moment. Directed by Piotr Złotorowicz Scriptwriter Piotr Złotorowicz Producer Jerzy Kapuściński, Ewa Jastrzębska Camera Nicolas Villegas Cast Małgorzata Hajewska-Krzysztofik, Mirosław Zbrojewicz, Jacek Koman, Julia Szczepańska, Mateusz Więcławek Language Polish Piotr Złotorowicz Director Genre fiction, drama T +48 511 443 002 Release date 02/01/2021 E [email protected] What’s missing final editing, sound post- production, color grading, music, mastering

Michał Hudzikowski Head of Promotion and Distri- FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT bution (Munk Studio) Mara, a retired schoolteacher, asks her Piotr Złotorowicz graduated from Film Di- Munk Studio has been functioning within Wiarołom is a visual poem that adopts non- T +48 225 565 483 husband Więźko to come back home. Their recting at the Polish National Film School in the structure of the Polish Filmmakers As- linear storytelling, retells scenes from vari- E [email protected] marriage fell apart years ago after she had Lodz. sociation since 2008. The studio produces ous perspectives, and lets us dive into the an affair with the owner of a local metal- His student films garnered recognition short and feature-length debut films and world of characters’ dreamlike memories. lurgical workshop. Więźko, now a scrap in the form of over 80 awards and were young filmmakers who want to make their Using these aesthetics, I want to show the collector, does want to come back home, broadcast by Polish Television. His gradua- first film in a professional environment can audience how truly imperfect the human but not just as a “friend”. He’s struggling, as tion film Mother Earth (2014) was awarded count on the artistic, production and pro- memory really is. I want the audience to these are the last months of his wife’s life. at the 67th Locarno Film Festival and re- motional assistance we provide. To date, ask themselves: What is the moral cost of Many years have gone by since the affair, ceived 27 other prizes from various interna- nine full-length feature debuts have been truth? Is this cost always worth bearing? but it still consumes them. tional festivals. made at Munk Studio, including Piotr Do- Things get more complicated when their malewski’s Silent Night, Ewa Bukowska’s daughter Anna comes back home after 53 Wars, Piotr Adamski’s Eastern and Bar- years of being away to take care of her tosz Kruhlik’s Supernova. Post-production mother. She left the village as a child and is underway on two other full-lenght debuts now she’s come back as a young adult and – We’ll Be Fine by Sylwester Jakimow and meets her childhood love, Alko. Wiarołom by Piotr Złotorowicz.

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WORKS IN PROGRESS FIRST CUT+ JURY

THE POST-PRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT AWARD JURY

IVO MARÁK Head of Film & TV Services Department, UPP KAREL OCH Artistic Director, Karlovy Vary IFF MICHAELA PATRÍKOVÁ Representative of Sound Square

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East Studio Czerniakowska 73/79 00-718 Warsaw BROAD PEAK 100min, Poland, Italy Poland E [email protected] This is the film’s final distribution title. Directed by Leszek Dawid Scriptwriter Łukasz Ludkowski Producer Maciej Rzączyński, Dawid Janicki, Krzysztof Rzączyński, Paweł Rymarz, Pola Łangowska Camera Łukasz Gutt Cast Maciej Rzączyński, Dawid Janicki, Krzysztof Rzączyński, Paweł Rymarz Language Polish Release date 01/08/2021 What’s missing sales agent Pola Łangowska Producer T +48 883 103 740 E [email protected]

FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY The film is based on real-life events. In Leszek Dawid is one of the most influential East Studio is a family film studio. Since 2013, a Polish group of mountaineers – filmmakers shaping contemporary Polish 2010 it has passionately produced and de- Maciej Berbeka, Tomasz Kowalski, Artur cinema. He is a graduate of the Andrzej Wa- livered different projects and films ranging Małek and Adam Bielecki reached the top jda Master School of Film Directing and the from advertising, traditional and fiction of the second highest mountain in Karako- Directing Department at the Film School in to documentaries, musicals and anima- ram. Broad Peak is the tale of a beautiful Łódź and the director of widely acclaimed tion. The aim of East Studio is to do big but destructive passion and the incredi- documentary and feature films. His feature things and – above all – to navigate im- ble determination that pushes a man to- debut My Name Is Ki received excellent re- portant topics. The partners of the pro- wards a dangerous edge. It is also a moving views in Poland. You Are God had a highly duction house are Maciej Rzączyński, story of the great but difficult love that successful run in Polish and British cine- Krzysztof Rzączyński, Paweł Rymarz and brought Maciek Berbeka together with his mas. The film won numerous awards and Maria Stemplowska-Rymarz. wife Ewa. To faithfully convey the realities recognition from both critics and the au- of the expedition and bring the audience dience. Leszek Dawid has also directed a closer to the power of the highest moun- recognized and much-admired premium TV tains in the world, a team of filmmakers series for HBO and NC+. prepared themselves for almost a year for the Karakoram expedition. The shots were taken at the base of K2 and at Broad Peak at over 5,000 meters above sea level.

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Asteros Film Rumeli Hisarı Mah. Saygılı Sok. Özgen Apt. No:9/4 Sarıyer DESKMATE / OKUL TIRASI 90min, Turkey, Romania Istanbul Turkey This film has sales company attached. E [email protected] This is the film’s working title and may W http://www.asterosfilm.com/en change. Directed by Ferit Karahan Intramovies Scriptwriter Ferit Karahan, Gulistan Acet Via Eustachio Manfredi 15 Producer Kanat Doğramacı 00197 Rome Camera Turksoy Golebeyi Italy Cast Gozde Elmas, Asiye Kocaman T +39 335 7052982 Language Turkish, Kurdish E [email protected] Website www.asterosfilm.com/en/movie W www.intramovies.com /deskmate Genre drama Release date 02/02/2021 What’s missing additional finacing for VFX and sound

Kanat Doğramacı Producer T +905 322 523 952 E [email protected]

FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT Young Memo, a boarder at a repressive Born in Muş, Turkey on 4 April 1983, Ferit Kanat Dogramaci was born in Eskisehir, I spent six years of my childhood at a boys’ school secluded in the Anatolian Karahan is now living in Istanbul. He Turkey on 31 March 1987. After high school, boarding primary school. The reason I mountains, falls mysteriously ill. Yusuf, started working as a first assistant direc- he worked for a few production compa- wanted to make this film has a lot to do his twelve-year-old deskmate, struggles tor on feature films. His short films Before nies before going on to the United Kingdom with the fears that remain in me from those through the bureaucracy of the school au- the Flood and Yusiv’s Dream have been to study Film Studies. He graduated from boarding school days. Fear is as old as hu- thorities to get help for his friend. When the screened at numerous festivals and won Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. manity itself, and schools are one of the tutors finally realize the seriousness of the awards and honourable mentions. His fea- When he got back to Turkey, he founded places that most effectively perpetuate the Ferit Karahan Director little boy’s condition and try to get him to ture debut The Fall From Heaven premiered the Asteros Film Company in 2014. Since tradition of spreading fear and using it as T +905 336 633 373 a hospital, the school becomes completely at the Antalya Film Festival and won Best then he has produced many commercially a disciplinary tool. At boarding schools, E [email protected] isolated under heavy snowfall. While trying Film. It also won Best First Film Prize at successful films. For the last few years in particular, these fears tend to be multi- to get help from the outside, teachers and the Ankara Film Festival, and was later he has focused on arthouse productions layered. students engage in a blame-game where screened at more than 15 festivals and won and produced La Belle Indifference (2019), grudges, feelings of guilt and hidden se- more than 10 awards. which premiered at Karlovy Vary IFF Main crets surface while time inexorably runs Competition and won numerous awards out. domestically and internationally. He also co-produced A Girl With No Mouth (2019) which premiered at Tallinn IFF and won numerous awards domestically.

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Dansu films Manufakturu 16 10311 Vilnius I AM FINE, THANKS / MAN VISKAS GERAI, AČIŪ 88min, Lithuania Lithuania E [email protected] This is the film’s working title and may W www.dansu.eu change. Directed by Ernestas Jankauskas Scriptwriter Birute Kapustinskaite, Ernestas Jankauskas, Gabija Siurbytė Producer Gabija Siurbytė Camera Feliksas Abrukauskas Cast Gabija Siurbytė, Andrius Paulavičius, Nelė Savičenko, Mija di Marco Language Lithuanian Genre dramedy Release date 10/01/2021 What’s missing additional financing for the Gabija Siurbytė Producer postproduction T +37 069 814 141 E [email protected]

Ernestas Jankauskas Director FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT Maria returns to her former life after check- Ernestas Jankauskas directed over 40 Gabija Siurbytė has worked on projects in- The film raises the following question – ing herself out of a rehabilitation clinic award winning commercials. His short film cluding: feature The Crown Jewels starring does someone with imperfections deserve where she was being treated for panic at- The Queen of England Stole My Parents Alicia Vikander; feature Gentlemen star- to be loved? Perfection is a new religion tacks. To gain back her position as lead won best short movie award at the National ring David Dencik and Sverrir Gudnason; nowadays. Panic attacks are an expression researcher and convince her family she Film Awards and several prizes at festivals and the TV series Farang starring Ola Ra- of internal suffering, which accumulates is fine, she hides her breakdowns, which and was the first short film distributed in pace. Gabija produced the feature Sasha within a person and suddenly explodes. It’s manifest themselves as crazy hallucina- Lithuania cinema chains. His first feature Was Here, which premiered at Tallinn Black like a doorbell. The main conflict of the film tions. However, hiding her special condition film Sasha Was Here premiered at Black Nights FF and was selected for Shanghai, takes place between Maria and her closest while also competing for a neuroscience Nights Film Festival/ First Feature competi- Les Arcs, Odesa Film Festivals and 15 more; ones. Maria can no longer be just a "handy project and the love of her family proves to tion in Tallinn and was selected for Shang- the feature-length documentary about a tool" in someone else’s hands. She wants to be more difficult than she’d thought. hai, Les Arcs, Odesa Film Festivals and 15 hustler in the Amazon jungles El Padre be accepted and loved for what she really more. I Am FINE, Thanks (post-production) Medico, and the horror short film (Berli- is – imperfect, and not always sane. In the Feature film/ 2021 Sasha Was Here feature nale Short Film Station) When the Lights film, mystique is blended in with reality. film/ 2018 The Queen of England Stole My Go Out. Gabija is a member of the board of Two worlds contrast and compete. Parents Short Film / 2013 No Focus Short the Independent Producers Association of Film / 2006 Draugu Draugai TV series / Sit- Lithuania. She has also taken part in Inside com / 2012 pictures, EAVE+, Producers Network and Berlinale Talents Campus.

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Axel Film B-dul Regina Maria 70 040125 Bucharest IMMACULATE / IMACULAT 110min, Romania Romania E [email protected] This is the film’s final distribution title. This film is director’s feature debut. Directed by Monica Stan, George Chiper Lillemark Scriptwriter Monica Stan Producer Marcian Lazar Camera George Chiper-Lillemark Language Romanian Genre drama Release date 10/08/2021 What’s missing additional financing for the postproduction Monica Stan Director, Scriptwriter T +40 720 001 116 E [email protected]

Marcian Lazar Producer T +40 724 041 627 FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT E [email protected] When her junkie boyfriend ends up in Monica Stan is a Romanian filmmaker with In 2016, Marcian Lazar took over the com- Monica: I was 19 when I ended up in rehab prison, Daria is taken by her parents to a background in psychology. She has been pany Axel Film in order to produce dar- and was confronted with the advances of rehab to quit heroin and become a good working as a screenwriter for 10 years ing independent projects like the fictional the mostly male patients there. Outside in daughter again. Inside the clinic, Daria’s un- and her filmography includes the features short Fog by Adi Voicu, winner of the Grand my middle-class environment I was the cor- wavering loyalty to her boyfriend makes her Marussia (Berlinale Generation 2013) and Jury prize in Angers and Centaur Award for rupted one. Inside among the junkies I was exceptional in the eyes of the male junkies Coureur (IFF Rotterdam 2019) as well as best debut in Saint Petersburg. The second seen as special. That powerful experience and saves her from their sexual pressures. several shorts. Immaculate is both a per- short film by Adi Voicu, The Last Trip to the made me realise how the image that others Being desired yet protected by everyone sonal story and her debut as a director. Seaside was selected in Semaine de la Cri- have of us can seduce us to such an extent makes Daria feel special for the first time in George Chiper-Lillemark is a director of tique Cannes 2019. Another two features that we embrace it as our own identity, until her teenage life. She relishes her position photography and director living in Copen- and two documentaries are in different we become aware that it is a delusion. until a new mysterious patient is commit- hagen. He has photographed numerous stages of production. George: We can read Daria’s story as a cri- ted. His arrival confronts Daria with her feature and short films, including Touch Me With the company Strada Film, he produced tique of a macho society in which there is own desires, triggering wild competition Not (2018) by Adina Pintilie. Loverboy in 2011, the second film by Catalin no good way for a woman to find her place among the men. Suddenly trapped between He also co-directed the short The Sandpit Mitulescu selected for Cannes 2011 Certain outside the authority of a man. However, it everyone’s clashing expectations, Daria #186 (2009) with Adina Pintilie and The Regard. In 2013, he finished the produc- is also the story of a human’s need to be- must find her own path. Comet (2017) with Mihai Mincan. His short tion of Wolf – director and writer Bogdan come aware of their conditioning in order to The Palm Lines (2009) was screened by Mustata, which premiered in Competition assert their needs and wants. Locarno and Rotterdam IFF. at Sarajevo Film Festival.

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Portokal 137 Evlogi Georgiev Blvd. 1504 Sofia JANUARY 110min, Bulgaria, Portugal, Luxembourg Bulgaria E [email protected] This is the film’s final distribution title. Directed by Andrey Paounov Scriptwriter Alex Barrett, Andrey Paounov Producer Vanya Rainova Camera Vasco Viana Music Ivo Paunov Language Bulgarian Genre drama Release date 01/01/2021 What’s missing sales company

Vanya Rainova Producer T +359 887 916692 E [email protected]

Andrey Paounov Director E [email protected] FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT Two men and a bird are trapped by a snow- Andrey Paounov graduated from the Bul- Vanya Rainova is an award-winning writer January is the story of two men and a storm in a desolate 1970s hotel at the edge garian Academy of Theatre and Film Arts in and producer and a partner in Portokal, rakija-drinking bird who try to solve a mys- of the world. One has to cross the woods 2000, and started working on what would a boutique production company that has tery while it slowly devours them. It was to reach the nearest town, but that’s insane become an award-winning creative non- supported established filmmakers and inspired by the eponymous play by Yordan in the midst of winter: the road is snowed fiction trilogy on the absurdities of the emerging talent in their author-driven works Radichkov — Bulgaria’s most distinctly- over, you can get lost and freeze, the wolves post-totalitarian transition. His first doc- since 2011. Vanya is best known for in- voiced author of the past century. I was are hungry and can be heard howling all umentary feature, Georgi and the Butter- ternational co-productions for feature- drawn to the influence of folklore and mag- night long, and who knows what other crea- flies, won the Silver Wolf at IDFA in 2004. length creative documentaries (The Last ical realism in his works, and to January, in tures roam these woods. The Mosquito Problem and Other Stories, Blacks Sea Pirates, Soul Food Stories) and particular, because it went a step further Still, early that morning, someone named his second documentary feature, was in- short fiction films (Pride, Setembro, Load, into Beckett’s theatre of the absurd and the Petar Motorov must have harnessed his cluded in the 46th International Critics’ Mother). She has presented her films at Comedy of Menace by Pinter. sleigh and headed to town. Nobody saw Week of the Cannes Film Festival 2007. IDFA, HotDocs, Vision du Reel, Locarno, Bu- The film explores the narrative and aes- him leave, but the falling snow still hasn’t The Boy Who Was a King (2011), Andrey’s san, Tribeca and won awards at Clermont- thetic possibilities of the classical absur- fully erased his tracks. third full-length documentary, premiered Ferrand, ZINEBI, Brest, Krakow, Yerevan, dist approach, where literal communication But when the sleigh returns, Petar Motorov at Toronto International Film Festival. An- the Bulgarian Film Academy and many oth- and meaning disintegrate in order to tran- isn’t on it. Inside, the men find only Mo- drey’s latest film, Walking on Water (2018) ers. She holds an MFA in creative writing scend to a universal existential message in torov’s fur coat, his shotgun, and the frozen had its world premiere at Locarno Film Fes- from the University of San Francisco and a genre-flirting cocktail, served with a wink. carcass of a wolf. Where is Petar Motorov, tival and has been distributed in cinemas is a graduate of Eurodoc (2015) and EAVE It has the pace of a western, the engine of a and what has happened to him? worldwide. January is his fiction feature (2016). mystery, and the aftertaste of a horror film. There is only one way to find out. directorial debut.

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M-Films Šiltadaržio str. 6, 01124 Vilnius RUNNER / BĖGIKĖ 83min, Lithuania, Czech Republic Lithuania E [email protected] This is the film’s final distribution title. W www.m-films.lt Directed by Andrius Blaževičius Scriptwriter Andrius Blaževičius, Marija Kavtaradze, Tekle Kavtaradze Producer Marija Razgutė Camera Narvydas Naujalis Music Jakub Rataj Cast Zygimante Elena Jakstaite, Marius Repsys, Laima Akstinaite, Vytautas Kaniusonis, Valentinas Krulikovskis Language Lithuanian Genre love thriller Release date 01/01/2021 Marija Razgutė Producer What’s missing additional financing for the T +37 060 107 802 postproduction (45.000 Euro) E [email protected]

Andrius Blaževičius Director FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT T +37 066 230 035 After her boyfriend has a psychotic episode Andrius Blaževičius was born in Vilnius Marija Razgutė is a Lithuanian film pro- My first feature The Saint addressed the E [email protected] and disappears, Maria is willing to do any- in 1985. After finishing high school, he ducer who has been running her own pro- topics of love and crisis, while the second thing it takes to help him. Grabbing at every studied Cultural History and Anthropol- duction company M-Films since 2008. Her one, Runner, is about love and freedom. clue concerning his whereabouts, she em- ogy at Vilnius University and, after a year, latest feature film Nova Lituania by Karo- Keeping in mind the threats that loom over barks on a fast-paced odyssey through the switched to the Lithuanian Music and The- lis Kaupinis premiered at Karlovy Vary IFF Lithuania and the rest of Europe – the war city. Always one step behind and against all ater Academy, where he earned his Mas- 2019, Summer Survivors by Marija Kav- in Ukraine, Russia’s aggressive attitude, the odds, Maria’s love will drive her to go all the ter’s degree in Film Directing in 2011. An- taradze premiered at Toronto IFF 2018, The refugee crisis, the rising popularity of the way as she fights both for her love and her drius completed six short films during his Saint by Andrius Blaževičius premiered at radical right, etc. – a film about freedom freedom. studies, including Ten Reasons (2011), the Busan IFF 2016 and Warsaw IFF and was is more relevant than ever before. I want winner of two Lithuanian Film Academy awarded by the Lithuanian Film Academy to talk about freedom through an ordinary Awards. His debut feature film The Saint in 6 categories, including Best Film, Best person’s everyday struggles. I’m interested (2016) premiered at Busan and Warsaw Script, Best Director, etc. She’s also been in knowing what it means to be free when Film Festivals and received six Lithuanian co-producing as a minority co-producer you’re in love, when fear of war lingers over Film Academy Awards. Andrius works as a since 2016 and has films with Spain – Tres your country, when everyone’s dependent freelance director and has also been a pro- by Juanjo Giménez & Trote by Xacio Baño, on modern technologies, and when your grammer for the Vilnius International Short and Germany & Georgia – Otar’s Death by body is sick. I’m interested in a person’s Film Festival since 2010. Ioseb “Soso” Bliadze. Marija is also a grad- free will and choice to sacrifice one’s free- uate of EAVE Producers Workshop, a mem- dom for something they consider to be ex- ber of the European Film Academy, EWA tremely important. Network, and Producer on the Move 2020.

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Sense Production Kosovska 8 111min, Serbia, Slovenia, Netherlands, 11000 Belgrade THE USERS / KORISNICI Bosnia and Herzegovina Serbia E [email protected] This is the film’s working title and may W www.senseproduction.rs change. This film has sales company attached. heretic outreach Directed by Ivan Ikić Anaksagora street 3-5 Scriptwriter Ivan Ikić 105 52 Athens Producer Milan Stojanović, Marija Greece Stojanović E [email protected] Camera Milos Jacimovic W www.heretic.gr/heretic-outreach Language Serbian Website senseproduction.rs/portfolio/the -users/ Genre drama Release date 11/05/2020 What’s missing mastering, DCP

Milan Stojanović Producer T +381 669 399 869 E [email protected]

FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY Upon her arrival at an institution for youths Ivan Ikić’s debut Barbarians premiered in Milan Stojanović produced Barbarians with special needs, the rebellious girl Maria 2014 in the East of the West Competition at (2014) by Ivan Ikić and co-produced Her quickly becomes friends with the equally KVIFF, winning a Special Jury Mention. The Job (2018) by Nikos Labot and Malmkrog fiery and equally lonely Dragana. When it film was presented at over 30 international (2020) by Cristi Puiu. Milan is an alumni of becomes clear that they are both in love festivals, winning 12 prizes, and was sold to EAVE, Producers on the Move and Emerging Ivan Ikić Director with the more withdrawn Robert, their rela- Japan, France, Italy, Romania, Hungary, USA Producers, and a member of the European T +381 641 304 027 tionship is upset and gradually grows into and Turkey. Film Academy. E [email protected] a dangerous game of hide-and-seek to win him over. Driven by newfound feelings of desire and envy, their impulsive actions topple the del- icate balance preserved by the institution’s stifling rules and spill over into confrontation and desperate measures for a way out.

Marija Stojanović Producer T +381 696 456 14 E [email protected]

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Proton Cinema Kft. Pozsonyi út 14. 1137 Budapest WILD ROOTS / KÜLÖN FALKA 98min, Hungary, Slovak Republic Hungary E [email protected] This film is director’s feature debut. W www.protoncinema.hu This is the film’s working title and may change. Directed by Hajni Kis Scriptwriter Fanni Szántó, Hajni Kis Producer Júlia Berkes, Balázs Zachar Camera Ákos Nyoszoli Music Oleg Borsos Cast Gusztáv Dietz, Zorka Horváth, Éva Füsti Molnár Language Hungarian Genre drama Release date 02/25/2021 Hajni Kis Director What’s missing additional financing for the T +36 703 892 755 publicity materials E [email protected]

Júlia Berkes Producer FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT T +36 704 227 110 Ex-con Tibor’s brute force and savage tem- Born in 1990, Hungarian director Hajni Kis Júlia Berkes was born in 1983. After grad- Wild Roots is the story of a father-daughter E [email protected] per serve him well in his work as a club first studied philosophy before moving on uating from the University of Theatre and relationship, and the tale of two rebellious bouncer, but less so in life. In financial to film. She was accepted to the Univer- Film Arts Budapest and Eötvös Loránd Uni- characters who are destined for a reunion. straits and estranged from nearly everyone, sity of Theatre and Film Arts, Budapest in versity, she began working at Proton Cin- It is a story of growing up that starts with Tibor hasn’t seen his wild child daughter 2013. Her 2nd year project was the fictional ema as a line producer, where she made a rough encounter, goes through the loss Niki in seven years. Twelve-year-old Niki short Beautiful Figure, which was nomi- several international feature films. Since of trust, and leads to mutual acceptance. lives with her grandparents, and like Tibor, nated for Student Academy Awards in 2016. 2009 she has produced her own movies, I am engaged by the various types of re- she can’t be kept under control. When Niki Her graduation short Last Call was awarded starting with a handful of short films like lationships people live in without pro- finds out that Tibor has been released from the Best Short Film prize at numerous fes- On a Lower Level by director Gábor Reisz, foundly knowing each other’s personali- prison and is working at a local nightclub, tivals (Sarajevo Film Festival, Trieste Film and the 2014 EFA nominee Wall by direc- ties. I wanted to talk about the fundamen- she decides to go after him despite her Festival, Filmschoolfest Munich, Lublin Film tor Simon Szabó. A cult hit feature titled For tal concept of family, which is so difficult grandparents’ strictest warnings. This unex- Festival etc.). Her feature directorial debut Some Inexplicable Reason (2014), which to turn into a meaningful connection be- pected reunion may be Tibor’s last chance Wild Roots is now in post-production. won 13 international prizes, is one of the cause of all the presumptions and conven- Balázs Zachar Producer to face his dark past, let the light into his most respected blockbusters in Hungary. In tions that society ties to it. My goal was to T +36 306 416 770 life and face up to the responsibility of be- EAVE 2016 Producers Workshop, she par- make a film which is personal and rooted E [email protected] coming a real father. ticipated with her new feature movie Bad in stories of my own life, but also one that Poems by Gábor Reisz, which premiered in reaches to the heart of every viewer who 2018 and won the Hungarian Film Award in has ever struggled with the hardship of an many categories, including Best Film. entirely honest connection with another person.

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EURIMAGES LAB PROJECT AWARD 37 EURIMAGES LAB PROJECT AWARD JURY ELS HENDRIX MARK PERANSON ADINA PINTILIE Els Hendrix is responsible for international and Mark Peranson is the Head of Programming of Adina Pintilie is a Romanian filmmaker, visual artist European film policy at the Federal Government the Berlinale and editor and publisher of Cinema and curator. Her first feature Touch Me Not won Commissioner for Culture and Media (BKM) in Ger- Scope magazine. He has served as a member of the the Golden Bear and Best First Feature awards at many and is the German representative in the Man- selection committee of the Locarno Film Festival the 2018 Berlinale, was nominated for the Euro- agement Board of Eurimages and member of the since 2010, and was the Head of Programming from pean Discovery Award at the European Film Acad- Management Committee of the MEDIA Creative 2013 to 2018. emy Awards and was distributed in over 40 territo- Europe Programme and the European Audiovisual ries. It screened at major festivals such as Toronto, Observatory. Karlovy Vary, BFI London, MoMA New York, Vien- Before joining the BKM, Els spent seven years as nale, Sydney, Sarajevo and others, received pos- Head of European Affairs at the European Media itive reviews in the New York Times, Hollywood Company ProSiebenSat.1 with TV channels, radios Reporter, Sight & Sound, Télérama, Les Inrock- and VOD Platforms in various EU member states. uptibles, Indiewire, Die Welt, Die Zeit and many Els has also been working as a solicitor at Taylor others. Her previous short Oxygen premiered in the Wessing and Gaedertz Law Firm, mainly in the field Rotterdam 2010 competition. Her medium-length of copyright, IT, media and competition law. Els has Don’t Get Me Wrong premiered in the Locarno 2007 studied at the Universities of Hamburg (Germany) competition and went on to have an impressive and Bordeaux (France) and completed her Master festival career. On the fluid border between reality of Law at the College of Europe in Bruges (Bel- and fiction, born of innovative research processes gium). She specializes in Film, Media and Enter- with a profound social impact, her works are a sin- tainment Law as well as European and Competition gular phenomenon within the Romanian cultural Law. landscape, standing out through cutting-edge aes- She has been a lecturer for Media-, Event-, Copy- thetics and an uncompromising exploration of the right and Press Law at the Institute for New Media human psyche. Pixelapostel University of Applied Sciences for As guest-expert / tutor, Adina Pintilie has held Administration and Law in Berlin. masterclasses, workshops and lectures at institutions and events such as Stockholm University of the Arts, York University Toronto, National Uni- versity of Drama and Film Bucharest, Berlinale Talents, SOURCES 2, Tehran Film Festival etc.

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Dugong Films Piazza I. Nievo 21 00153 Rome ATLANTIDE 85min, Italy, France Italy E [email protected] This is the film’s working title and may W www.dugong.it change. Directed by Yuri Ancarani LUXBOX Scriptwriter Yuri Ancarani 6 rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud Producer Marco Alessi 75011 Paris Camera Yuri Ancarani France Music Lorenzo Senni E [email protected] Language Italian W www.luxboxfilms.com Genre creative documentary Release date 02/11/2021 What’s missing additional shooting, editing and post-production, financing, sales and distribution

Marco Alessi Producer T +393 358 447 617 E [email protected]

FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT Venice: a city of gondolas, canals and inex- Yuri Ancarani is an Italian video artist and Dugong Films is an Italian company focused There is something deeply human and uni- orably sinking palaces, where tourists come filmmaker. His works come from a contin- on exploring the blurred line between fic- versally comprehensible in the image of a and locals go. There is a parallel world here uous mingling of documentary cinema and tion and documentary. Their films have sixteen-year-old boy speeding across the where teenagers pimp out their motorboats, contemporary art, and are the result of re- been shown at the most important inter- lagoon on his small boat with his music customizing them with dazzling LED lights search aimed at exploring regions which national festivals such as Cannes Direc- playing at full volume. His girlfriend is at Yuri Ancarani Director and powerful stereo systems and souping are not visible in daily life and realities into tors’ Fortnight (Samouni Road by Stefano his side and a bunch of friends behind him, T +39 335 206 051 up their engines to a stunning horsepower which the artist delves in the first person. Savona, winner of the L’Œil d’Or Award as ready to shout, laugh and fool around de- E [email protected] so they can race across the Lagoon and He has won several awards, such as: Lo- Best Documentary), Venice Film Festival spite a magnificent and ancient world that live out their adolescence freely. And af- carno Cine+ Jury Special Prize Cineasti del (The Years by Sara Fgaier, winner of the is literally collapsing around them. For me, ter the usual party on a deserted island, Presente, The Talent Prize 2012, a nomi- EFA as Best Short), Locarno Film Festival teenagehood is an imaginary picture that, here they are, challenging each other in nation in nonfiction feature filmmaking, (The Challenge by Yuri Ancarani, winner of in the scenic space of the Venetian Lagoon, dangerous illegal races to win girls’ hearts, Cinema Eye Honors (Museum of Moving Special Jury Prize), Rotterdam Film Festival is so visible yet invisible in its deep truth – without lights to avoid the police, point- Image, New York); Grand Prix in Lab Com- (Gold Is All There Is by Andrea Caccia, win- is comes like a shockwave in the desert, an ing their bows and wildly heading towards petition, Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival ner of Eurimages Lab Project Award in Les element of resistance on the Canal Grande. the Serenissima. Daniele, Luca, Alberto, (France); Honourable Mention, Dokufest Arcs 2018), BFI London Film Festival (That our main characters, will drive us into their (Kosovo); Best Documentary, New Horizon Which Is To Come Is Just a Promise by Flat- summer made by dreams and nightmares of I.F.F. (Poland). form, winner of Best Documentary Award at a generation running at full speed. Go Short Nijmegen 2020).

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Les Films de la Récré 118 rue de Stassart 1050 Brussels BULA 95min, Belgium, Brazil Belgium E [email protected] This is the film’s final distribution title. W filmsdelarecre.com This film is director’s feature debut. Directed by Boris Baum Scriptwriter Boris Baum, Sébastien Tixador Producer Boris Baum Camera Clémence Thurninger, Maurício Padilha Music Mathieu Gauriat Cast Xavier Gallais, Zoé Adjani, Matthieu Delaunay, Lula Cotton Frapier Language French, Portuguese Website www.filmsdelarecre.com/bula Genre drama Boris Baum Director, Producer Release date 06/05/2021 T +33 766 210 094 What’s missing VFX E [email protected]

Alexis Schmitz Producer FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT T +33 605 250 966 E [email protected] Marcelo, 17, lives confined to his teenage Boris Baum grew up in India and Spain. Les Films de la Récré is an independent I decided to make this movie about the out- bedroom. So far, his days have been di- After having worked in different posts on Belgian production company based in Brus- casts. I didn’t intend to fictionalize their vided between his scientific research, his film sets, he turned to directing. His first sels. reality, but rather to make it resonate in a black metal solo band and his mother. One medium-length film, Une braise sur la We are trying to develop a new generation documentary-like manner along with the day, however, two events shake up his daily Neige, was one of the ten most profitable of Belgian filmmakers and propose am- fiction. This movie questions where insan- life: his failure on his final exam and the films of 2014 and allowed him to found bitious, free and innovative cinema. Our ity lies, and Sao Paolo makes everything mysterious death of his father, Ziad, a fa- the Belgian production company Les Films latest production was presented at the more striking: next to the skyscrapers, the mous anthropologist in Brazil. Determined de la Récré in 2015. He produced the fea- Tribeca Film Festival. constant pace, all the money and the high to investigate his disappearance, he and ture documentary Damascus, directed by cost of living, insanity is just another la- his uncle embark on an adventure between Belgian-Syrian Myrna Nabhan, Julian by bel. I tried to gather everything together electrifying cities and the Amazon. Belgian Maxime Fauconnier and 11.11.18 by allowing for the revelation of these as- VR Experience (selected at the 2019 edi- pects and making them intelligible. Through tion of Tribeca). He has just finished his this movie, we really hope to encourage a first feature film Bula and is preparing his curiosity that makes people want to know next film, Late Bet, which is scheduled to more, to respect that knowledge and to be shot in 2021. Late bet was recently se- understand that it is important in today’s lected by Screen Brussels and the Madrid world to lend an ear, and to leave your door co-production festival Ventana Del Ciné. open. You never know who might want to step inside.

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Just a moment Pylimo str. 9 - 13 LT-01118 Vilnius BURIAL / KAPINYNAS 70min, Lithuania, Norway Lithuania E [email protected] This is the film’s working title and may W www.justamoment.lt change. This film is director’s feature debut. Mer Film Directed by Emilija Škarnulytė Georgernes verft 12 Scriptwriter Emilija Škarnulytė 5011 Bergen Producer Dagne Vildziunaite Norway Camera Eitvydas Doskus Language English Genre creative documentary Release date 28/02/2021 What’s missing additional shooting, editing and post-production, post-production funding (58,000 Euro budget gap)

Emilija Škarnulytė Director T +13 234 707 114 E [email protected]

FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT From the Soviet ruins of the Ignalina Nu- Emilija Skarnulyte (born in Vilnius, 1987) is Dagne Vildziunaite has been working in the It is important for me to talk not only about clear Power Plant to the ancient tombs a visual artist and filmmaker. She was part TV and film industry for more than 15 years. mankind, but about the planet itself, which of the Etruscans, from the Andra nuclear of Berlinale Talents 2018 and is the recent In 2007 she established the independent is truly the main character. When speak- Dagnė Vildžiūnaite Producer fuel repository under France to the atomic winner of the Future Generation Art Prize production company Just a Moment, which ing about the Earth, why do we usually T +37 068 688 980 deserts and abandoned mines of New Mex- 2019 - a biannual global contemporary art has already produced 20 short, feature- concentrate on humanity as the starting E [email protected] ico, Burial takes us deep into the earth, prize which recognises and supports one length, documentary and fiction films. point? I want to explore how human activ- not only past the thin crust of the surface artist age 35 or younger. Skarnulyte also She is a national representative of EAVE in ity has potentially altered the Earth’s ge- beneath us, but into time. Technological, represented Lithuania at the XXII Trien- Lithuania. Her recent titles include Breath- ologic record. I want to trace the scars of geological, metaphysical, Burial follows the nale di Milano and was commissioned by ing Into Marble (Karlovy Vary IFF 2018, Bu- humans from the mines where we extract cycle of power, the fire of creation and de- the First Toronto Biennial of Art, Toronto, san IFF 2018), Core of the World (San Se- uranium through its full life cycle and fi- struction, through dreamy sun-scapes to Canada. Her films have been screened at bastian IFF 2018, Toronto IFF 2018, Grand nally to our desperate schemes to bury the the shadowy under-lands where we bury the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Prix & Film Critics’ Award at Kinotavr FF), waste. Through film, I want to see the rem- both the dead and the apocalyptic wastes Center Pompidou, Riga International Bien- Nijole (DOK Leipzig 2018, Cartagena Film nants of a radiant supernova in the radioac- of our progress. nial of Contemporary Art, 31st São Paulo Festival FICCI 2019), Spoon (Karlovy Vary tive chambers where we hope these dead As Robert MacFarlane wrote. “Into the Biennial, Whitechapel Gallery, London and IFF 2019, FIDBA 2019). nuclear rods will stay buried. And by look- under-land we have long placed that which International Short Film Festival OBER- In 2017, she was nominated for Best Profes- ing forward, I want to imagine the ghosts of we fear and wish to lose, and that which we HAUSEN, etc. sional Work in Cinema at the National Film our failures that will inevitably haunt us. love and wish to save.” Awards.

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COLOR OF MAY Neuenhöfer Allee 19a 50937 Cologne FIVE DREAMERS AND A HORSE 90min, Armenia, Germany Germany E [email protected] This is the film’s working title and may W www.colorofmay.com change. This film is director’s feature debut. Ulik Production Directed by Vahagn Khachatryan, Aren Vardanants 18 Malakyan Yerevan Scriptwriter Vahagn Khachatryan, Aren Armenia Malakyan E [email protected] Producer Vahagn Khachatryan, Eva Blondiau Camera Aren Malakyan, Vahagn Khachatryan Language Armenian Genre docu fiction Release date 15/11/2020 What’s missing additional shooting, final editing, sound post-production, color grading, post-production funding, editing consultant/supervisor Eva Blondiau Producer T +491 783 195 751 E [email protected]

FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT Yerevan, Armenia. An elevator conductor Vahagn Khachatryan was born in 1991 in COLOR OF MAY was founded by E. Imanov When we were kids, we dreamed about dreams of going to the cosmos. A lonely Yerevan, Armenia. From 2008 to 2014, and E. Blondiau. COM produced The Swing reaching the stars and running under rain- farmer dreams of his perfect wife. A young he studied Filmmaking at the Beijing Film of the Coffin Maker (Student Oscar®), Torn bows. I felt I had lost my childhood percep- lesbian couple lives out their dreams Academy. Between 2014 and 2016, he was (Directors’ Fortnight, Cannes), Three Steps tion of dreaming. The only dream I could Vahagn Khachatryan Director, Producer, through a revolution. Some dreams are an part of the DOC Nomads Programme, mak- by I. Bliadze (IFFR 2017), Tradition (Cler- think of was showing my film in Venice. I Scriptwriter escape from life; others create a new real- ing documentaries in three countries: Por- mont Ferrand SFF), Arrhythmia by B. Khleb- felt that my mind and my heart had stopped T +37 493 905 115 ity. tugal, Hungary and Belgium. The Moon The nikov (Karlovy Vary IFF, Toronto IFF), the communicating. E [email protected] Sun And The Musketeers premiered in Vi- documentary Long Echo by V. Glasunowa & I began to search for people with dreams sion Du Reel in Nyon and was shown at L. Lakomy (Vision du Réel, Nyon), the fea- similar to those of my childhood. Unreach- DOK Leipzig and many more. ture film End of Season by E. Imanov (IFFR able dreams. I found my protagonists from Aren Malakyan was born in 1991 in Vanad- Bright Future 2019, FIPRESCI Award), the different generations. I felt the need to fol- zor, Armenia. In 2015 he graduated from documentary Kabul, City in the Wind by low them in fulfilling their dreams and to Yerevan State Institute of Theatre and Cine- A. Amini (opening film IDFA, Jury Prize). E. figure out more about my own. I was looking matography. His graduation film Girl On The Blondiau is an EAVE graduate 2016 and Pro- for my dream and found myself in a revo- Moon received the prize of the President ducer on the Move 2019 in Cannes. lution that changed Armenia. What are we of the Republic of Armenia in 2015, as well without dreams? as several prizes at international film festivals, including Bastau IFF, New Wave IFF and Fresco IFF. It won the Best Film Award at the Web Apricot Yerevan Festival.

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Achtung Panda! GmbH Greifenhagenerstrasse 12 10437 Berlin HELLO MY FRIEND 100min, Germany, Cuba Germany E [email protected] This is the film’s working title and may W www.achtungpanda.com change. Directed by Bettina Blümner Marinca Filmes Scriptwriter Bettina Blümner 84 Street, 724 Producer Jamila Wenske 11300 Havanna Camera Janis Mazuch Cuba Cast Leonard Scheicher (BENJAMIN), E [email protected] Victoria Schulz (KATHARINA), Maya Unger (JUDITH), Eugenio Torroella Ramos (IGNACIO) Language German, Spanish, English Genre road-movie, adventure, drama Release date 07/02/2021 What’s missing additional shooting, editing and post-production, DCP print

Jamila Wenske Producer T +491 791 244 904 E [email protected]

FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT The experiences of the director and pro- Bettina Blümner was born in 1975 in Jamila Wenske runs the production com- The film addresses issues of the young ducer at the end of the last millennium Düsseldorf. She studied film direction at pany Achtung Panda!. generation: the question of identity, chal- in Cuba form the foundation of Hello My Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in Ger- Her successes as an international co- lenging value systems, experience and ac- Friend and the journey of Benjamin, Judith many and EICTV in Havana, Cuba. For her producer include i.e. Un Certain Regard knowledgment of social disparity, what is Bettina Blümner Director and Katharina to find the latter’s missing project Prinzessinnenbad, she received a and EFA Discovery Winner 2016 for The real love and how to interact with emotions, T +491 632 336 001 brother Wanja. They are deeply entrapped grant from the Nipkow Programm. The film Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki. In conflict and disputes arising from these E [email protected] in a maze of delusions, real feelings and won Best Perspectives on German Cinema 2018, she was named one of 10 Producers issues in a globalized and social media- those that can easily be confused with sex- at the 57th Berlinale and the German Film to Watch by Variety. Jamila is a member of driven world. As the protagonists are digital ual desire. Self-taped smartphone-cam Award for Best Documentary in the same ACE, EAVE, AN, EFA and DFA. natives, we decided to use the “number diaries to represent the digital natives are year. In 2013, her first fictional feature film Maria Carla Del Rio is based in Havana, is one” communication tool and special ob- blended with the classical film camera per- Scherbenpark was released theatrically in a member of EAVE and graduated from the ject of desire for both Germans and Cubans spective and professionals are mixed with Germany and won several awards. EICTV. – the smartphone – as a content provider. amateur actors. The culture clash of the Films & awards (selection): She runs Marinca Filmes, a Cuban indepen- In addition to our film camera, our actors Western world with Cuba’s restricted soci- Hello My Friend (2020) - Wim Wenders dent film company focusing on eccentric were given smartphones to create a diary ety and daily grind mirrors the audience’s Scholarship 2016, Guadalajara Pitch Award art-house films with a strong cinematic with self-recordings, confessions, awk- expectations about this tropical paradise Best Imaginative Exposure 2017 conviction. In 2015, she was selected to ward situations and funny encounters. We’ll and raises questions about personal free- Broken Glass Park (2013) - Max Ophuels be part of the Emerging Leaders of Latin- blend both formats together as a narrative dom vs. communist values. Award Best Actress 2013 America Program held by Concordia Uni- structure to reflect reality and transform it Prinzessinnenbad (2007) - Nipkow Schol- versity in Montreal, Canada and was invited into an exciting fictional document of our arship, Berlinale Best Perspectives on Ger- by the CNC to the Producer’s Network in times. man Cinema 2007, German Film Award Best Cannes. In 2018 she won Best Producer Documentary 2007 Award by the Muestra Joven/ICAIC.

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NANA 143 Beogradska 3 15300 Loznica ROOTS / KORENI 75min, Serbia, Croatia Serbia T +381 611 776 853 This is the film’s working title and may E [email protected] change. This film is director’s feature debut. Directed by Tea Lukač Scriptwriter Tea Lukač Producer Andrijana Sofranić Šućur Camera Sara Preradović Language Serbian, Croatian, Tagalog Genre sensory ethnography documentary, hybrid Release date 13/02/2021 What’s missing post-production funding and partners Andrijana Sofranić Šućur Producer T +381 611 776 853 E [email protected]

Tea Lukač Director FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT E [email protected] Passengers in the back seat of a moving Tea’s short films screened at numerous film Andrijana Sofranić Šućur established In an ode to my hometown, which I had to car. Thick fog. Conversations about hor- festivals (Cottbus, Trieste, Poitiers). Her NANA 143 in 2016. It is focused on pro- leave due to the outbreak of war, Roots por- net’s nests, lonely Filipino farm workers, documentary The Most Important Boy in ducing auteur-driven films for festival and trays fragments of life conflicted with the masked children fresh from carnival, peti- the World premiered at Beldocs IFF 2016, theatrical distribution. It presents a meet- eternity of nature. In long static shots, pas- tions against nuclear waste, singing com- was invited to IDFA Docs for Sale and was ing point for young artists with distinctive sengers, natives of Dvor, create wondrous petitions, cemetery visits and roads home. declared Best Film at Doc’n’Ritam IFF and stories. Our first feature film Mamonga pre- tales about customs, rituals and culture Seven long static shots. Vast woods sur- Balkan FF. She has exhibited in galleries miered in 2019 at KVIFF. From 2019 on, that still live in a place where beautiful vast rounding the place separating each of the G12 Hub, Štab, Inex and others. She is cur- Andrijana has joined forces with direc- forests witness the fragility of human life. seven journeys. Storms and snow. Lost rently doing her PhD and focusing on sen- tor/producer Marija Stojnić and producer The landscape seen in varying weather (fog, origin and unclear destination. Still pas- sory ethnography documentary filmmaking. Miloš Ivanović to establish Set Sail Films, rain, wind) separates each journey. sengers and an ever-moving landscape. which functions as a partner company. She Minimalistic in style, the film combines a Quietness and rumbling. Intimate and pub- produces fiction, documentary and anima- structural-formalistic approach with the lic. Transience and eternity. A strangely tion (feature and short), but also takes part method of sensory ethnography. While all wondrous and occasionally funny film. Dis- in and designs numerous non-profit cul- stories are real, the framing is somewhat continued blocks without progress in the tural activities focused on film education fictitious, adding to the hybridity of the narrative and visual repetition make Roots and audience development. project and blurring the line between doc- an innovative mix of aesthetics and ethnog- umentary, concept film, ethnography and raphy. fiction.

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Vroda Studio Kiev Ukraine STEPNE 95min, Ukraine, Germany, Poland Koi Studio This is the film’s final distribution title. Madalińskiego 73/75 m. 5 This film is director’s feature debut. 02-549 Warsaw Directed by Maryna Vroda Poland Scriptwriter Maryna Vroda, Kirill Shuvalov T +48 509 236 089 Producer Maryna Vroda, Agnieszka Dziedzic E [email protected] Camera Andrey Lisetzkiy W www.koi-studio.pl Language Ukrainian Genre drama Release date 06/01/2021 What’s missing additional shooting, part of financing, post-production, music recording

Maryna Vroda Director T +380 961 328 724 E [email protected]

FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT Set amidst stunning Ukrainian winter land- Maryna Vroda was born on February 22, Koi Studio was established in 2012 by pro- I have always been interested in the topic scapes, vanishing villages and an emerging 1982 in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. In 2007, ducer Agnieszka Dziedzic and cinematogra- of disappearance, vanishing, and parting feeling of alienation between people in a she graduated from the Cinematography pher Jakub Burakiewicz. The company con- with something really valuable. This refers Agnieszka Dziedzic Producer post-Soviet society, Stepne is a story of a and TV faculty at the Kyiv National Univer- sists of a production house and film equip- to the disappearance of the whole system E [email protected] mature man who comes back home from sity of Theatre, Cinematography and Tele- ment rental. Within six years of operating of social relations between people, erasing the city to take care of his dying mother. vision named after Karpenko-Karyy, with a on the market, we managed to produce 8 a person’s or a state’s past due to changes His mother’s passing, together with a meet- specialization in feature films direction. She fiction and documentary productions, in- in a social structure. Overshadowed by the ing with his brother and a woman he loves has attended Mikhail Illenko and Valery cluding international co-productions that current situation of war in Ukraine, I see the makes him reflect on the life he’s had and Sivak’s workshops. After graduation, she were successful at festivals (EFA nomi- beauty of these elusive things that never choices he’s made along the way. Then, just worked with Sergei Loznitsa. In 2008, her nation, premiere at Berlinale, Toronto IFF, come back, as all those reasons people before her death, the mother tells Anatoly short student films were entered for inter- Warsaw IFF) and 2 full-length domestic lived for, looked forward to and fought for about a treasure she has buried inside the national film festivals both in Eastern and films, one of which (Double Trouble) was were dissolving. The vanishing nature of shed… Western Europe. Festival de Cannes in 2011 a box office success in Poland and is now old Ukrainian villages and people still living - Palme d’Or du court métrage. She lived in being expanded to the first local live adven- there but being outside the system – all this Berlin and Kyiv in 2015. Since 2016, she has ture film brand. carries with it the striking beauty of dying. been studying her Master’s degree at the Konrad Wolf Film University of Babelsberg and working on her feature film – Stepne.

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Horse&Fruits Filmproduction Zollergasse 30/2A A-1070 Vienna UTOPIA 110min, Ukraine, Austria, Netherlands Austria E [email protected] This is the film’s working title and may W https://www.horseandfruits.com change. Directed by Juri Rechinsky Pronto Film Scriptwriter Juri Rechinsky 04070 Kyiv Producer Thomas Herberth, Maxim Ukraine Asadchiy, Kirsi Saivosalmi E [email protected] Camera Sebastian Thaler W www.pronto.kiev.ua Music Anton Baibakov Language Ukrainian, Russian, English, German, Dutch Genre experimental disaster film Release date 21/05/2022 What’s missing additional shooting, financing, sales and distribution

Juri Rechinsky Director T +43 676 741 7222 E [email protected]

FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT Utopia is an experimental disaster-film Juri Rechinsky (1986) is a director, editor With almost 20 years of experience in film Thomas More’s Utopia was a fantasy about about one ordinary night during which an and writer born in Turkmenistan, raised in production, Maxim Asadchiy has been pro- society without private property. entire city goes through an extraordinary Ukraine, and based in Vienna since 2013. ducer/executive producer of more than 30 This movie is a fantasy about the human experience of temporary enlightenment. His documentary Sickfuckpeople (75’, 2013, films and TV series, including The Leading being without fear. Fear of death, of fail- Thomas Herberth Producer It consists of numerous simultaneously Novotny Film) and feature film Ugly (92’, Role (DOK Leipzig; Ukrainian Film Acad- ure, of change. What would happen if all T +43 660 706 2055 unfolding rhyming storylines, united by 2017, Novotny Film/ Pronto Film/ Ulrich emy Award for Best Documentary; Odessa these fears released their grip on us for one E [email protected] parallel editing, in the same city on the Seidl Film) have been shown among oth- IFF, Best European Documentary), Break- night? same night. ers at Rotterdam IFF, Hot Docs, Sao Paolo ing Point (Santa Barbara IFF; Annapolis IFF, In the end of the movie, I want people In its approach to acting and script, Utopia Mostra, DOK Leipzig, Thessaloniki DFF, An- Best Documentary; San Luis Obispo IFF, in front of the screen and people on the is closer to the art of performance than to thology Film Archives New York, Phi Centre Best Documentary), The Guide (Warsaw IFF; screen to experience the same effect – classical drama. Each individual story be- Montreal, European Film College Denmark. Odessa IFF, Best Actor, Best Cinematogra- temporary “enlightenment”, a shift in the gins, develops and ends during one night He is the winner of several awards, includ- phy; Palm Springs IFF, Cottbus IFF; Kyoto perspective on our own lives. Utopia is of shooting, as actors search in long blocks ing Heart of Sarajevo, Raindance, Viennale, IFF), Russian Triangle (Moscow IFF, Spe- about us, the working inhabitants of mod- of improvised action for states of ecstasy Diagonale, European Independent Film Fes- cial Jury Prize; Cottbus IFF; Nika Awards, ern cities, captured in everyday activities; and enlightenment, trying to redefine them- tival and DocsDF Mexico. Member of Eu- Best Film from the CIS and the Baltics), Im- repeating thought patterns, mood disorders selves from scratch and fighting the defini- ropean Film Academy and Austrian Guild port/Export (Cannes IFF, Nomination for and conflicts; unanswered questions about tions one has grown accustomed to. of Directors. Utopia is his long-term dream Palme D’Or). our place and purpose; the suppressed Maxim Asadchiy Producer project. pain of parents ageing, kids growing and T +380 674 650 212 life flying by. E [email protected]

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DOCS IN PROGRESS 47 DOCS IN PROGRESS JURY SALMA ABDALLA CHARLOTTE COOK RADA ŠEŠIĆ Salma Abdalla began her work as international TV Charlotte Cook is the Co-Founder and Executive Festival programmer, film lecturer, film director. sales manager in 2005. In 2016, she took over all Producer of Field of Vision, a film unit that sup- Born in former Yugoslavia, Rada lives in the Nether- operational matters and acquisitions as Autlook’s ports and commissions filmmakers and artists to lands. She is head of the Documentary Compe- Managing Director and propelled digital distribu- make short form, episodic and feature length cre- tition at the Sarajevo FF, competition selection tion for documentaries. Salma speaks on panels ative visual journalism. Prior to Field of Vision, she committee member at IDFA, and a program advi- and gives lectures and workshops at major film was the Director of Programming at Hot Docs. In sor of IFF Rotterdam. Rada also takes part in the festivals with a focus on rights management and addition to her work at Field of Vision, Charlotte is selection of Hubert Bals and the Doha Institute distribution. Autlook Filmsales was created in currently a programmer at CPH:DOX and recently funds. She lectures at the Master of Film in Am- 2006 and has since established itself as a lead- produced the films Our New President (Sundance sterdam and is a mentor at various documentary ing world sales agents for high profile documen- ‘18), The Proposal (Tribeca ‘18) and The Gospel of workshops in Europe in Asia. She is the artistic taries, hybrids and series, including the Academy Eureka (SXSW ‘18). director of Eastern Neighbours FF in The Hague. nominated For Sama by Waad al-Kateab & Edward Rada has served on more than 50 juries at film Watts, the Sundance-awarded The Painter and the festivals around the world (a.o. Joris Ivens Jury at Thief by Benjamin Ree and Acasa, My Home by IDFA, Hot Docs Toronto, CPH Dox, Moscow IFF, Radu Ciorniciuc, Midnight Family by Luke Lorenzen, Cinema du Reel Paris, Dok Leipzig, Watch Docs and Academy nominated Of Fathers and Sons by Warsaw, Nordic Panorama, MIFF Mumbai, etc.). Talal Derki. In Yugoslavia, she has directed several documentaries and was assistant director at fiction feature films. She has also directed four films inthe Netherlands: Room Without a View, 1997, Soske, 2001, In Whitest Solitude, 2001, and The Way to School, 2007. Her films have been screened at 60 festivals worldwide and received several awards. Her work has also been presented and archived at MoMA New York, and she has published articles as a film critic in various film magazines and several books.

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endorfilm Přímětická 4 140 00 Praha 4 EVERY SINGLE MINUTE / KAŽDÁ MINUTA ŽIVOTA 75min, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic Czech Republic T +420 602 358 373 This is the film’s final distribution title. E [email protected] Directed by Erika Hníková W www.endorfilm.cz Scriptwriter Erika Hníková Producer Jiří Konečný Camera Lukáš Milota, Šimon Dvořáček Language Slovak, Czech Genre observational, situational, family, education, sports Release date 9/9/2020 What’s missing post-production funding, festival premiere, sales agent, distributors, broadcasters

Jiří Konečný Producer T +420 602 358 373 E [email protected]

FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT Erika Hníková Director Ever since his birth, Slovak married cou- Erika Hníková (1976) is a Czech documen- Jiří Konečný (1973) is a Prague-based film What makes the protagonists of the film so T +420 608 111 235 ple Michal and Lenka Hanuliak have been tary filmmaker. She studied documentary producer and owner of endorfilm, a com- intriguing is not just their extreme parenting E [email protected] conducting a peculiar experiment on their film at the Film and TV School of Prague’s pany focused mainly on producing films style and sacrifice, but also their relation- now four-year-old son Miško. They spend Academy of Performing Arts. In 2004, she for cinema. His productions have been ship, family situation and the values they every waking minute raising him to one day earned broader recognition with her film selected for numerous international fes- believe in. All of this paints an interest- become a successful athlete and a “quality The Beauty Exchange (Ženy pro měny), tivals including Cannes, Berlinale, Toronto, ing picture of our society. They essentially human being” in every sense of the word. which won the Audience Award at the Karlovy Vary, San Sebastian, Rotterdam, want a perfect child and a perfect world. They have decided to sacrifice everything, Jihlava IDFF. Her second film I Guess We’ll IDFA and others, winning more than 50 Many aspects of their story are thought- including their own individual pursuits, in Meet at the Eurocamp (Sejdeme se v Euro- awards and six times a national candidate provoking – the way they firmly control their order to achieve this goal. This film cap- campu) screened at various international for an Oscar. son’s upbringing, the way they keep very tures their efforts for a period of one year festivals, including Hot Docs in Toronto. much hidden away, as well as the way their and, through raw scenes from the Hanuliak Matchmaking Mayor (Nesvatbov), her third performance-focused endeavour reflects Family’s life, raises a number of questions film, premiered in the Forum section of our society and the mindset of people to- with regard to the meaning of parenting in the 2011 Berlinale, where it received the day. I’d like our movie to broach many of today’s society, a single-minded focus on Tagesspiegel Readers’ Award, and later these complex issues. performance and the possible "robotiza- screened at festivals around the world. It tion” of our lives. received a number of awards and is among the most successful Czech documentaries.

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Hargla Company Valtaiku 19 LV 1029 Riga HOMES / MĀJAS 66min, Latvia Latvia E [email protected] This is the film’s final distribution title. Directed by Laila Pakalniņa Scriptwriter Laila Pakalniņa Producer Laila Pakalniņa Camera Gints Bērziņš Language Latvian Genre documentary Release date 3/5/2021 What’s missing post-production funding and partners, co-production

Laila Pakalniņa Director, Producer T +371 292 356 18 E [email protected]

FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT Let us into your home (please) – and feel Laila Pakalnina graduated from the Moscow We call our working method the "brutal free to leave (please)! This film will be Film Institute (VGIK), Department of documentary". Because forcing people to about people, their homes and… film. Film Direction, in 1991. A director and go out and stand where we want is some- scriptwriter of 31 documentaries, 5 shorts, thing brutal. But, as it turns out, it’s also and 5 fiction features, altogether she has interesting. 41 films, 2 children, 1 husband, 2 dogs and 2 bicycles – and many ideas for new films. Her films have screened in official programmes at Cannes, Venice, Berlinale, Locarno, Karlovy Vary, Rome and other international festivals, where they have won numerous awards.

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Docmaniacs Collective Tehran Iran INDOOR – TEHRAN / DAKHELI – TEHRAN 80min, Iran E [email protected] W www.docmaniacs.com This is the film’s working title and may change. This film is director’s feature debut. Directed by Azadi Moghadam Scriptwriter Azadi Moghadam Producer Afsaneh Salari, Azadi Moghadam Camera Agata Grzybowska Language Persian Genre creative documentary Release date 29/12/2020 What’s missing post-production funding Afsaneh Salari Producer T +33 778 689 087 E [email protected]

Azadi Moghadam Director E [email protected] FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT Three single women live in an all-female Azadi Moghadam was born in Tehran in Afsaneh Salari is an Iranian filmmaker, ed- Indoor - Tehran stands for those "ordi- building in Tehran. Zahra (55), Maryam (50) 1979. She has a BA in theatre and has itor and producer. She’s the co-founder nary" women who are pushed to the mar- and Elena (37) are neighbours. They barely worked for years as a theatre director, film- of the Docmaniacs Collective in Iran and gins by simply refusing to adapt to abu- ever leave home and live in isolation from maker, writer, translator and journalist. strives to accompany other filmmakers sive dynamics. Those women who have to society outside. In one way or another, each Indoor - Tehran is her first feature film af- from the Middle Eastern region into the in- make themselves invisible in order to live of them has had a failed relationship with ter two successful documentary films. The ternational film circle to produce their films a peaceful life. Some even like in Zahra’s men and motherhood in their lives. This Broker (2018) was officially selected for independently. Her films The Forbidden case have to change their names and ad- women-only film takes us on a purely inti- Hotdocs 2018, BFI London 2018 and New Strings (IDFA 2019) and The Silhouettes dresses in order to gain at least a minimum mate journey with three ordinary women. Horizon in Poland. Kahrizak - Tajrish (2015) (Visions du Reel 2020) have received fund- amount of liberty. These women are from As each of their stories quietly unravels be- was the winner of the 10th Iranian Gala ing from the Sundance Film Institute, Doha the middle-class and could be me, my sis- fore us, the camera is their only companion Film Critics Association. Film Institute, IDFA Bertha Fund, Vision Sud ter, my aunt or my mother. They do not be- in their quiet houses and during various Est Fund and Asian Cinema Fund. Her last long to the mainstream portrait of women moments that range from mundaneness to film The Silhouettes was awarded Special that our society has made out to be normal. vulnerability. Jury Mention for Best Documentary Feature The portrait of a devoted lady whose iden- at Vision du Reel 2020. Indoor - Tehran is tity is heavily tied to being a proper wife her third film as a producer. and mother – an extremely devoted mother "who will own paradise after death”.

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nutprodukce Mánesova 49 120 00 Praha 2 THE INTENSIVE LIFE UNIT / JEDNOTKA INTENZIVNÍHO ŽIVOTA 75min, Czech Republic Czech Republic E [email protected] This is the film’s working title and may W www.nutprodukce.cz change. Directed by Adéla Komrzý Scriptwriter Adéla Komrzý Producer Pavla Janoušková Kubečková Camera Prokop Souček Language Czech Genre documentary Release date 23/11/2020 What’s missing broadcasters, sales agent, financing (60,000 Euro budget gap)

Pavla Janoušková Kubečková Producer T +420 605 256 190 E [email protected]

Adéla Komrzý Director FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT T +420 728 846 639 An alarming 80% of people die in hospi- Adela Komrzý (1992) studied History of Art Pavla Janoušková Kubečková (*1985) stud- I had a very close friend who had a very E [email protected] tals, and there is a reason for this: termi- at Charles University, but then switched to ied Journalism at Charles University and bad illness. There was no treatment option. nally ill patients are not usually involved in documentary direction at FAMU, where she FAMU in Prague. In 2009 she co-founded The doctors knew this, but told neither him discussing the choices of how, when and continues to study an MA program. In 2018 the nutprodukce production company. She nor his family how bad it was. They had no where they want to spend their last mo- she was selected to participate at Berlinale has produced many documentary films, e.g. chance to say goodbye or be with him in ments. Ondřej and Kateřina, two senior Talents and in the same year carried out an Show!, (Czech Critics’ Award), Great Night, his final days. Similar stories are a common physicians, are deeply unsatisfied with the internship at the Konrad Wolf Film Univer- Fortress (both premiered at CPH:DOX), FC experience throughout the Western world, status quo, and so they decide to set up sity of Babelsberg. She participated in the Roma (documentary competition at KVIFF) where people die in hospitals even if they the first hospital palliative care team in IDFAcademy Summer School 2019 and ID- or Nothing Like Before (IDFA 2017). She don’t wish to do so. Nobody asks them for the country. We follow their effort of learn- FAcademy 2019. As a production assistant, is also one of the producers of the HBO their opinions. When I found doctors who ing how to communicate with patients and she has worked on the TV miniseries Burn- miniseries Burning Bush directed by Ag- were trying to change this situation, I im- gently guiding them through the decision ing Bush (dir. Agnieszka Holland, 2013). Her nieszka Holland and the HBO series Waste- mediately knew a film would be made. Our making process on the best way to spend film about the militarization of Czech soci- land (international premiere at Toronto IFF documentary focuses on intimate conver- their final moments in both a physical and ety Teaching War received awards and was 2016). She is also one of the co-producers sations between doctors and patients. We spiritual manner. The observational camera featured at international film festivals such of Spoor (dir. Agnieszka Holland), which also follow conversations between med- focuses on our protagonists in moments of as IDFF Ji.hlava, One World, DocLisboa, was awarded a Silver Bear at Berlinale 2017. ical students and doctors, who are trying fragile intimacy, trying to prove that dying ZagrebDox, goEast, etc. Her latest docu- She also co-produced Sergei Loznitsa’s lat- to pass on their knowledge. We explore our is as much a part of our lives as any other mentary Viva video, video viva (UPP, 85min) est film State Funeral (Venice IFF 2019). own capacity to communicate a simple yet piece of our journey. had its Czech premiere at Jihlava 2019 and long-forgotten truth: our own mortality. was recently released in Czech cinemas.

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HITCHHIKER Cinema Konventná 2 811 03 Bratislava THE LINES / ČIARY 80min, Slovak Republic Slovakia E [email protected] This is the film’s final distribution title. W www.hitchhikercinema.sk This film is director’s feature debut. Directed by Barbora Sliepková Scriptwriter Barbora Sliepková Producer Barbara Janišová Feglová Camera Maxim Kľujev, Michal Fulier Music Jonatán Pastirčák Language Slovak Website ciaryfilm.sk Genre urban essay Release date 15/10/2020 What’s missing festivals, international sales, co-production Barbara Janišová Feglová Producer T +421 905 858 808 E [email protected]

Barbora Sliepková Director FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT T +421 948 874 074 E [email protected] Bratislava is a city of thick lines. A post- Barbora Sliepkova is a graduate of docu- Barbara graduated in Film Theory and Crit- The Lines is my debut, and therefore it is socialist metropolis, it is defined by the mentary direction at the Academy of Per- icism at the Academy of Performing Arts in the biggest challenge and responsibility in stereotypes and doctrines of its inhabi- forming Arts in Bratislava. Her film About Bratislava. In the following years, she fo- my work so far. Nevertheless, the motiva- tants. We are part of an on-going and every- My Sister (2016) won the LITA prize for best cused on film journalism, screenwriting and tion to create always comes from within, day search for the right rhythm in an inti- direction at the Áčko Festival of Student PR. In 2012 she founded the HITCHHIKER and I find inspiration that transforms into mate and public setting. This urban essay Films and the Jury Prize for the Best Film Cinema production company, where she an obsession. The topic of urbanism, the- about the loneliness of a city dweller is vi- and Audience Award at the Febiofest In- develops and produces films with a focus ories about our cities and thoughts about sually inspired by Slovak conceptual art ternational Film Festival 2018. She worked on female filmmakers and social topics. In the sociology of the city have been on my and photography. with Hitchhiker Cinema on her short docu- 2018 she won the award for the best docu- mind 24/7 for the last few years. I want to mentary Xenophobia. She now works as a mentary feature A Hole in the Head (Diera v transform my thoughts into a visual film member of the creative team behind the TV hlave, 2017) at the Slnko v sieti Slovak Na- language – this is my craft and my way of series Evening with Havran. tional Film Awards. She is a member of the joining the conversation and speaking my Slovak Film and Television Academy and mind out loud. is one of the Emerging Producers 2018 at Jihlava IFDF.

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4.30 Studio Staromiejska 6/10d 40-013 Katowice THE PAWNSHOP / LOMBARD 75min, Poland Poland E [email protected] This is the film’s working title and may W www.4-30.pl change. This film is director’s feature debut. Directed by Łukasz Kowalski Scriptwriter Łukasz Kowalski Producer Anna Mazerant, Łukasz Kowalski Camera Stanisław Cuske Language Polish Genre documentary, comedy, drama Release date 6/1/2021 What’s missing sales agent, broadcasters, festivals, distributors Anna Mazerant Producer T +48 513 088 667 E [email protected]

Łukasz Kowalski Director, Producer FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT T +48 664 733 655 Jola and Wiesiek, a couple of extraordinary Łukasz Kowalski is a director, journalist, Anna Mazerant is a marketing and busi- The story of the pawnshop is filled with hu- E [email protected] entrepreneurs, run the biggest pawnshop and creator of television programmes. He ness strategist, and film producer. For the mour and the grotesque, but is also very in Poland. Profitable in the past, today the graduated from the Department of Philol- last 15 years, she has been involved in mar- moving and thought-provoking. The pro- business is collapsing and financial trou- ogy at the University of Silesia in Katowice keting, TV & the media industry. She has tagonists are ordinary people who are ex- bles are affecting their relationship. There and the Wajda School of Film Directing. co-authored many marketing and commu- tremely colourful and extraordinary charac- are several causes to these problems – the Since 2007, he has professionally cooper- nication strategies for the largest busi- ters. They are forced to struggle for survival residents of the city in which the pawnshop ated with Polish Television. Author of over ness entities in Poland. She has worked each day anew, but they do not lose hope. operates are more and more often pawn- 170 short documentary films and reports for brands such as Polish Public Television The world they live in can be shocking, but ing worthless objects to make ends meet. broadcast on major Polish Television chan- (TVP), BBC, Discovery Communications, it is also fascinating and magical. I have Wiesiek’s irrational marketing initiatives nels. He has won many awards in the most ZPR Media Group, Mediacom, ING, Rasp been living in Silesia for nearly a decade. and the good-hearted Jola, who financially prestigious nation-wide journalist competi- Media, TMobile, IKEA, mBank, Carrefour, It used to be an industrial mining region in supports poor clients, are not improving the tions, such as the Ryszard Kapuściński PAP and Coca-Cola. She is the author and ex- Poland, but when the coal deposits began situation. Their love begins to falter when Award or the "Watergate” Award granted ecutive producer of several documentary to shrink, the city started to “pass away”. I the money to live on runs out and they feel by the Polish Association of Journalists. He projects realized for business customers. was an eyewitness to the slow decomposi- overburdened with problems and argu- has participated in many master classes, She has held the positions of production tion of the world for which the “Pawnshop” ments. Meanwhile, a harsh winter is coming workshops, and professional training (in manager and film set manager in projects is the perfect metaphor. It is a voice in the and the conditions in the shop deteriorate. Poland and abroad) in the field of media carried out in the Andrzej Wajda Master fight for preserving values such as love, hu- The owners get into a big row. To save the and film direction. School of Film Directing. She is also co- manity, the struggle for dignity and hope for business, they decide to organize a grand owner of the 4.30 Studio production com- a better tomorrow. spring sale. pany.

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PANSIONATI Vazha Pshavela Block 6, Building 22, Apt 43 0186 Tbilisi ROMA AND THE CAMEL MAN / MOMTABARE 80min, Georgia Georgia E [email protected] This is the film’s working title and may change. This film is director’s feature debut. Directed by Irakli Metreveli Scriptwriter Irakli Metreveli, Nodar Nozadze Producer Nodar Nozadze Camera Irakli Metreveli Cast Goran, Roman Klimkin Language English, Turkish, Georgian Genre documentary Release date 20/3/2021 What’s missing post-production funding Nodar Nozadze Producer T +995 599 298 216 E [email protected]

Irakli Metreveli Director T +995 595 292 98 FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT E [email protected] On the border between Georgia and Azer- Irakli Metreveli is a Georgian filmmaker who Nodar Nozadze is a film editor and pro- This film is about the friendship of two rad- baijan, a camel named Chini is waiting for studied cinematography at the Theater and ducer from Tbilisi, Georgia. He was born in ically different individuals. The lives of both her “husband” to show up, but the wait has Film School of Georgia State University. Borjomi, Georgia in 1989. He studied film are full of problems and there is much ab- been long. After living for 27 years on the He has been an active cinematographer in direction at the Tbilisi University of Theater surdity in their existence. Goran has an road, Goran, who is the person responsi- Georgia since 2011, shooting short films, and Film. Nodar has been editing Georgian impulsive and complex character – he’s of- ble for Chini inside the nomadic camp, is documentaries and commercials. In 2014 feature-length and short films since 2008, ten explosive, and because of this many now in his early 60s. He is plagued with he founded “Zango Studio” together with and has worked with the majority of cur- people try to avoid him. Roma is subtle and problems and his life is a constant strug- Tato Kotetishvili. In 2019, he shot his first rent Georgian directors. In 2012, together caring when he’s not drunk, and he’s the gle for survival, be it against mosquitos feature films as a cinematographer, Field, with his long-time friend Lasha Tskvitinidze, only person in the area who has a good rein 42-degree summer heat or his criminal directed by Lasha Tskvitinidze. He is cur- he founded the PANSIONATI production lationship with Goran. However, even their neighbour, who’s been stealing goats from rently working on his debut film Roma and company and in 2013 produced I’m Beso, friendship will soon come to an end. The him and turning his life into a nightmare. the Camel Man as a director, and is also which was written and directed by Lasha film will explore how people at the edge Roma lives 500 meters away from Goran’s producing a debut feature Holy Electricity Tskvitinidze. He’s currently producing Lasha of society function, how they look for love camp, and some time ago his wife tried to by Tato Kotetishvili. Tskvitinidze’s second feature Field and the in their lives and whether they find it or poison him and run away with her lover. feature documentary Roma and the Camel not. The film also explores the nomadic Roma survived but started drinking heavily, Man directed by Irakli Metreveli. lifestyle, what it’s like not to have a roof alienating himself from everyone and los- over your head, why an individual chooses ing all his possessions. The appearance of this lifestyle, what it brings and what it Goran gives him new hope in his life. takes away.

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Staron-Film Krasińskiego 16/139 01-581 Warsaw UNTIL THE WEDDING / DO ŚLUBU 80min, Poland Poland E [email protected] This film is director’s feature debut. W staronfilm.pl This is the film’s working title and may change. Directed by Daniel Stopa Scriptwriter Daniel Stopa Producer Małgorzata Staroń Camera Daniel Stopa, Wojciech Staroń Language Polish Genre documentary Release date 8/5/2021 What’s missing financing, sales agent, festival premiere Małgorzata Staroń Producer T +48 505 934 943 E [email protected]

Joanna Tatko Producer FILM SYNOPSIS DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY AUTHOR’S STATEMENT T +48 509 723 416 After 40 years spent together as a married Daniel Stopa was born in 1988 in Olkusz. Małgorzata Staroń is the head of the A bittersweet depiction of a mature mar- E [email protected] couple, Dorota and Kazimierz are getting He was a student of film direction at the Staron-Film Polish production company. riage. Their son’s wedding is a pretext for ready for their older son Łukasz’s wed- Krzysztof Kieślowski Film School in Katow- She is an EAVE graduate and holds a PhD the elderly couple to look back on their ding. Their private archives prove that their ice. He has worked on documentaries with from Paris V Sorbonne. Since 2005 she life together. A year ago, my father asked own wedding ceremony was very modest Wojciech Staroń, Piotr Stasik and Bogdan has produced many successful films that me to play him a film recorded on an 8 mm compared to the chic and pompous cel- Dziworski to name a few. His debut short have premiered in Locarno, Cannes, Berlin, tape. And what was on it? His wedding! I ebration that is being set up for their son film Skinny was screened at many festivals, Toronto and San Sebastian. She is a mem- rented a projector and played the film. For and his bridetobe. The parents are up to such as the Camerimage Festival in Poland ber of EFA and an expert at the Polish Film the first time, me and my parents watched their necks in the wedding preparations and Bogoshorts in Colombia. Currently, he Institute. In 2017 she was awarded a prize these 13 magic minutes recorded 40 years as they want the event to be exceptional is working on a fulllength documentary en- for the Best Producer’s Debut for the docu- ago. My parents spotted people there who and impressive: church choir rehearsals, titled Kiosk (production: Staron-Film). mentary film Brothers. have since passed away. I was moved by game served for the main course, glam- the parents I had never got to see: a young Daniel Stopa Director orous decorations and renovations of the couple and very much in love. Right after, T +48 664 212 556 family house. Until the Wedding is a bit- preparations for my elder brother’s wed- E [email protected] tersweet depiction of a marriage story that ding began. Two weddings, the generation proves the old truth that a life together is gap between them, and a love which has all about the art of compromise. evolved so much. I took the camera and started shooting.

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