PROJECT PRESENTATIONS SØRFOND PITCHING FORUM

H NOVEMBER 13TH 2019 WELCOME

To be able to produce films that are locally based, filmmakers in developing countries need production capital as well as an international network.

The Norwegian Film Institute (NFI) and the Films from the South Festival recognize these challenges by supporting the Pro Open Doors projects with funding from SØRFOND.

Films supported by SØRFOND keep on receiving extensive international attention. All of the titles that have premiered this year have been invited to prestigious international film festivals: Divine Love was screened in the Panorama section at the Berlinale, along with Khartoum Offside which was screened in Forum. You Will Die at Twenty was screened in Venice where NFI is a strong supporter for building international relations. it also received the prize for Best Debut Feature. Finally, Made We believe networking and co-production across nations are in Bangladesh and 1982 were both screened at TIFF in Toronto. vital for further development of the film industry and we want to contribute to ensure that stories from developing countries We are pleased to see that the SØRFOND supported films once continuously are being told and presented to the audience. again are bringing together Norwegian co-producers and I wish you all a good pitching forum. filmmakers from developing countries at the prestigious international film festival scene, beneficial to both parties. Kjersti Mo CEO, The Norwegian Film Institute

SØRFOND + CO-PRODUCTIONS = SUCCESS!

PROJECT MANAGER CONTACT The SØRFOND supported films are not going unnoticed on the Per Eirik Gilsvik [email protected] international festival scene. All SØRFOND supported films already released in 2019 have had their premiere at major DESIGN Per Eirik Gilsvik international festivals, and in a few weeks Sunless Shadows will PER HØJ by Eiliv Gunleiksrud Project Manager for SØRFOND at Films from the South kick off the 32nd edition of IDFA in Amsterdam, the world’s Tel: +47 47 63 14 71 largest documentary film festival. VOLUNTEERS Email: [email protected] Ylva Holdal Berg, Tonje Alnes, Lucy Hermoza & Iriz Muniz The SØRFOND Pitching Forum represents the potential future Tina Beate Goa Fagerheim harvest of the fund. A black and white fantasy tale from Nigeria FILMS FROM THE SOUTH BOARD MEMBERS Production Advisor, Norwegian Film Institute about the mermaid goddess Mami Wata, a bitter sweet love story Tom Eilertsen, Synnøve Hørsdal, Ivar Køhn, Cathrine Røsseland, Tel: +47 41 67 10 12 from a war-torn Syria and a story of survival and rage set to a Kari Hesthamar and Rolf A. Vestvik. Email: [email protected] dystopian waste dump on the outskirts of Managua, Nicaragua – are only some of the projects that will be presented to Norwegian In addition to the public pitching session there will be two THANK YOU producers during this year’s forum. The projects are carefully interesting presentations and a case study: the prolific Danish Tina Beate Goa Fagerheim, Lars Løge, Kaja Hench Dyrlie, selected from partnering film markets around the world: L’Atelier producer Katrin Pors from Snowglobe will deliver a talk on ‘Why Dag Asbjørnsen and Jesper Osmund. (Cannes), Durban FilmMart (Durban IFF), Open Doors We Co-Produce’, the British film critic, producer and festival (Locarno), Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum (San programmer, Kaleem Aftab, will do a presentation on festival and Sebastian) and Asian Project Market (Busan IFF). With the press strategy, and lastly, together with the director and producers changes in SØRFOND’s guidelines as of January 2019, behind the Sørfond supported You Will Die at Twenty, we will take applications to our annual grant-deadline in March will have to a look at the challenges met by the team during the production pass a pre-selection process before being presented to the jury. and financing process of the film. However, all of the invited projects to SØRFOND Forum I hope you all enjoy this year’s SØRFOND Pitching Forum! presenting eligible application will automatically pass through, and be presented to the jury. So for Norwegian producers wanting Per Eirik Gilsvik to take part in the success story that is SØRFOND, the pitching Project Manager of SØRFOND for the Films from the South forum is a good place to be! Festival

2 SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND 3 ELIGIBLE COUNTIES

SØRFOND IN BRIEF

– Production support – Top financing – min. 50 % of budget confirmed when applying EUROPE – Projects from developing countries Albania, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, ASIA on Sørfond’s List of 85 Countries Kosovo, Macedonia (Former Yugoslav Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, – Norwegian co-producer required Republic of Macedonia), Moldova, Bhutan, Cambodia, , Democratic People’s – Fiction or documentaries Montenegro, Serbia and Ukraine. Republic of Korea, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iraq, – Minimum 50 min. running time , Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Laos, , Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Palestine, Papua New – One deadline each year in March Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, , Vietnam and Yemen.

LATIN-AMERICA Bolivia, , Colombia, , Ecuador, , Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Peru. AFRICA Angola, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra OCEANIA Leone, Somalia, , South Africa, , Papua New Guinea Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

SØRFOND – FUNDING BY THE NORWEGIAN OVERALL OBJECTIVE PROJECTS FROM DEVELOPING COUNTRIES THE NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND GOVERNMENT The grant shall contribute to strengthen film as a cultural Projects from countries on SØRFOND’s List of 85 Countries are The Norwegian Film Institute and the Films from the South From the start in 2011, SØRFOND has been supported by the expression, to prome diversity and artistic integrity on the qualified to apply production support from SØRFOND. In Foundation have recognised that it is difficult for filmmakers in Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since the first round of international film scene, and to strengthen freedom of addition, the main producer must be established in a country developing countries to realise film projects that are locally grants in 2012 up to 2019 NOK 24.6 million has been granted expression. The grant shall also contribute to an increased on this list, the director must have citizenship from, or be based, despite the great demand for such productions. for support from SØRFOND. For the next three-year cycle, from cooperation between Norwegian and international film resident in, an eligible country. Moreover, the film must be shot Filmmakers in developing countries have the need for both 2020 to 2022, SØRFOND will distribute NOK 9 million in industries. The purpose of SØRFOND grants is to stimulate in an eligible country. In exceptional cases, derogations may be production capital and international professional networks. It grants. With the help from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign the production of films in developing countries where such made regarding the establishment of the main producer in a is in that spirit that SØRFOND was created. Affairs, SØRFOND has supported 57 films from developing production is limited by political or economic causes. country of SØRFOND’s List of 85 Countries, if, due to political countries since its first round of grants. reasons, the film cannot be produced in such a country.

4 SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND 5 SØRFOND FORUM 2019 PROGRAMME FOR MEETING POINT & SØRFOND PITCHING FORUM In addition to the public pitching session there will be two lastly, together with the director and producers behind the TH interesting presentations and a case study: Katrin Pors from SØRFOND supported You Will Die at Twenty, we will take a look TUESDAY NOVEMBER 13 2018 Snowglobe will deliver a talk on ‘Why We Co-Produce’, the at the challenges the team met during the production and British film critic, producer and festival programmer, Kaleem financing process of the film. Aftab, will do a presentation on festival and press strategy, and

9.30 Registration & coffee Katrin Pors Kaleem Aftab Katrin is a producer known for bridg- Kaleem is a British film critic, pro- 9.45 Welcome to Sørfond Forum 2019 ing Latin America with Northern ducer and festival programmer of 20 Per Eirik Gilsvik, project Manager of Sørfond Europe. She has more than 10 years years standing. He is internationally of experience working as a producer, renowned for conducting engaging 10.00 Presentation: Why We Co-Produce executive and co-producer on numer- interviews, observing cinema trends Katrin Pors from the Danish production company Snowglobe ous projects with some of the most and writing critical reviews. Kaleem esteemed directors on the contem- is a prominent figure of the film 10.40 Case-study: You Will Die at Twenty Director Amjad Abu Alala, producer Ingrid Lill Høgtun & co-producer Mohammed Al’Omda porary art house scene, like Amat Escalante, Annemarie Jacir, world with an international fan base. He authored the official Joachim Trier, Carlos Reygadas and Ralitza Petrova. Spike Lee biography ‘That’s My Story and I’m Sticking To It.’ 11.20 Presentation: Festival & Press Strategy Film critic, producer and festival programmer Kaleem Aftab Her most recent work include the opening film of the 50th edi- He is a head programmer at the East End Film Festival and tion of Directors’ Fortnight: Birds of Passage by Ciro Guerra and previously worked selecting films for the Venice Ciruitooff Cristina Gallego, the Directors’ Fortnight co-production Petra Short Film Festival, as well as providing consultancy advice for by Jaime Rosales as well as Sundance helmer Monos by Alejan- numerous festivals. As a journalist, he writes for many of the 12.15 Lunch dro Landes and White, White Day by Hlynur Palmarson. world’s leading production and has produced films that have played at many film festivals including Sundance and London. She is a graduate of the Escuela Internacional de Cine y Tel- evisión, Cuba (EICTV), and the Media Business School, Spain. He will deliver a talk on festival strategy, with an emphasis on 13.15 Sørfond Pitching Forum – information about the pitch Furthermore, Katrin is an EAVE graduate and holds a degree in ensuring independent films make an impact. Per Eirik Gilsvik International Business and Politics from Business School, . 13.30 Pitch 1

Katrin is one of the founders of the Copenhagen based produc- 13.55 Pitch 2 tion company Snowglobe. 14.20 Pitch 3

France, Egypt, , & Qatar, and received support from Sørfond through our scheme Sørfond+ in 2017. 14.45 Coffee break Director Amjad Abu Alala, producer Ingrid Lill Høgtun (DUO- film AS, Norway) & co-producer Mohamed Alomd’a (Station Films, Sudan) will talk about how they worked financing the 15.00 Pitch 4 film and on some of the challenges they met during produc- tion. 15.25 Pitch 5

Director Amjad Abu Alala, producer Ingrid Lill Høgtun (DUO- 15.50 Pitch 6 film AS, Norway) & co-producer Mohamed Alomd’a (Station You Will Die at Twenty Films, Sudan) will talk about how they worked financing the Director Amjad Abu Alala’s debut feature which premiered in film and on some of the challenges they met during produc- the Venice Days section during the Venice Film Festival, where tion. 16.15 – 19:00 Mingling, tapas & drinks Amjad and his producers won the Lion of the Future Award for best debut flim. The film is a co-production between Sudan,

6 SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND 7 ABOUT THE PRODUCER

Bradley Liew has produced Singing in Graveyards (Venice Critics’ Week 2016), Motel Acacia (Tokyo IFF 2019). He is also the producer of Lav Diaz’s Season Of The Devil (Berlinale Competition 2018) and his upcoming When The Waves Are Gone.

Claire Lajoumard has produced films such as Phang Dang Di’s Mekong Stories (Berlinale Competition 2015), Bi, Don’t Be Afraid! (Cannes Critics Week, 2010) and co-produced A Yellow Bird by K. Rajagopal (Cannes Critics Week, 2016)

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Director Pham Ngoc Lan Pham Ngoc Lan is a Vietnamese artist whose work focuses on the direct, poetic and whimsical aspects of human life. Lan has made 3 shorts: The Story of Ones (2011, Visions du Reel), and FACTS two Berlinale Competition Shorts Another City (2016) & Blessed Land (2019). Original title Cu Li Không Bao Giờ Khóc English title Cu Li Never Cries Lan is developing his first feature Cu Li Never Cries which has Main producer Phan Dang Di, DNY Vietnam Productions, Vietnam been developed at SEAFIC x Produire Au Sud and presented at Director Pham Ngoc Lan markets such as Cannes L’Atelier, Busan APM and Locarno Open Doors (Arte Kino Prize). Co-producers Bradley Liew, Epicmedia Productions Inc, Philippines Claire Lajoumard, Acrobates Films, Contact information [email protected], lan.pham.architecture@ CU LI NEVER CRIES gmail.com, [email protected], [email protected] SYNOPSIS Website www.epicmedia.ph/cu-li-never-cries Documentary/fiction Fiction As a former architect, my view of the world tended to be from Mrs. Nguyen, from a generation of socialism’s false security Mrs. Nguyện (a Vietnamese blue-collar retiree, who once the perspective of structure and balance. But the everyday that has faded away. And her niece, representing a new Country Vietnam, Philippines, France worked in East Germany as a labor export worker), returns to experience of living in Vietnam is the opposite of this; chaotic generation of youth who are searching for their future, not Expected running time 100 mins where she inherits a cremation urn with her German and colourful as diverse cultures coalesce and collide. knowing where it will lead them but forced to push forward Production status Financing ex-husband’s ashes and his pet slow loris monkey (CU LI). regardless of desire. Expected release date April 2021 In the 1970s, there was a slogan of unity between the Total budget € 788,764 After managing to smuggle both the urn and the pet Cu Li back communist countries of East Germany and Vietnam called It is about Mrs. Nguyen preparing to spend the rest of her life to Vietnam, Mrs. Nguyện embarks on a journey retracing the Confirmed financing € 208,979 “Solidarität mit Vietnam” (Solidarity With Vietnam). One major alone. A journey of trying to hold on to the last pieces of a steps of her memories to scatter her husband’s ashes at the outcome of this was the Labour Export Program where low slipping memory. A memory never to be felt again, like the hydroelectric plant where they first met. skilled Vietnamese laborers were shipped off to East Germany ashes of her ex-husband, blowing in the wind. to perform construction and labour jobs. FINANCING PLAN Now as I myself become an immigrant living in a foreign land, SOURCE AMOUNT STATUS Tens of thousands of Vietnamese, including my aunt and I keep hearing in my head, a song that my Grandma used to € DIRECTOR’S NOTE uncles, participated in this program as they desperately tried to sing me asleep as a child: Hubert Bals Script Development Fund 2017 7.500 Confirmed escape Vietnam and immigrate to East Germany and the Soviet “I keep searching within the nostalgia of my youth, only to Tokyo Talents Support 2017 3.845 Confirmed When the Berlin wall fell, tens of thousands of Vietnamese Union – once known as the paradise of communist countries. remember that it was once found”. Robert Bosch-Stiftung Fund 2018 9.300 Confirmed laborers including my aunt and uncles who immigrated to East But once there, what they discovered was a world that was so DNY VIETNAM - Producer support 58.350 Confirmed Germany to escape Vietnam in the 1970s became displaced. vastly different from Vietnamese society. Soon they changed, We come to Oslo to present Cu Li Never Cries on the Locarno Purin Pictures Production Fund 2018 27.273 Confirmed Many returned home to Vietnam but home was not as it once creating new immigrant cultures, never quite the same as from Open Doors Sørfond Award. We hope to find our Norwegian was. The country had moved on without them and these Visions Sud Est Production Support 2019 41.166 Confirmed their motherland. producing counterpart and together, through a river of returning children of Vietnam found themselves as strangers, FilmPhilippines Incentive Award Grant 2019 54.545 Confirmed memory, dreams and nostalgia, bring this film to life. even within their own motherland. This is a movie about the protagonist, Mrs. Nguyen’s current Arte Kino Prize 2019 7.000 Confirmed internal imbalance – intertwined with and originated from the - Pham Ngoc Lan (Director) Aide aux cinémas du monde, This film is about the scars of their displacement and the fading memories of her past as a labour export worker in East Arte France & World Cinema Fund 350.000 Applied memories of their youth. Germany along with the push and shove of Vietnamese history. Private Equity Inv. Philippines, The film is about the conflict between Vietnam’s generations. VINCOM Group priv.eq. Vietnam & Sørfond 100.000 To be applied

8 SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND 9 ABOUT THE PRODUCER

Arda Çiltepe works as producer and director and is a founding partner of Vigo Film, a production company based in Istanbul. He co-produced Meteors (2017) and Gulyabani (2018), both directed by Gürcan Keltek and premiered at Locarno. His directorial short Black Sun won Pardino d’oro at Locarno in 2019. He’s developing New Dawn Fades with the director since 2017.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Born in İzmir, Gürcan Keltek studied film at Dokuz Eylül Director Gürcan Keltek and producer Arda Çiltepe University before directing several shorts including Overtime (2012), screened at Visions Du Réel. His medium-length film Colony (2015) was screened at FIDMarseille. His first feature FACTS film Meteorlar (Locarno 2017) and Gulyabani (Locarno 2018) were screened at Tate Modern, Reykjavik, Rotterdam, Viennale, Original title Yeni Şafak Solarken BAFICI, Bordeaux, Fajr, Hong Kong and the Film Society of English title New Dawn Fades Lincoln Center’s Art of the Real, among others. Main producer Arda Çiltepe - Vigo Film Director Gürcan Keltek SYNOPSIS Co-producers Stefan Gieren (The StoryBay, Germany) Marc van Goethem (29P Films, the Netherlands) As Akın, an up-and-coming actor diagnosed with severe bipolar Contact information [email protected] disorder, loses touch with his true self, his mind shifts into Documentary/fiction Fiction another reality. We stroll outside, in the dark streets of the city, Country Turkey on the squares, among the crowds. The streets of heaped NEW DAWN FADES Expected running time 100 min districts, where evil became banal and mercy perished, now is Production status Financing home to ‘devils’ and ‘demons’. They are among us now and they Expected release date Spring 2021 do exist. In the industrial districts and uncanny domiciles of New Dawn Fades is shaped around Akın Altın who is diagnosed As Hannah Arendt said in Life of the Mind, ‘The sad truth is Total budget € 764.000 Istanbul, evil gradually starts to appear. with Bipolar Disorder. It’s a film about societies’ collective evil, that most evil is done by people who never make up their Confirmed financing € 141.000 about madness triggered by art and chemical medicines. It’s a minds to be good or evil.’ In the final chapter, in which we story that digs the destruction left on us by families, generation completely leave Akın Altın behind, we will meet with and societies into which we are born. supernatural creatures, devils and demons amid us that Akın DIRECTOR’S NOTE always sees, and start to see everything through Akın’s FINANCING PLAN New Dawn Fades will be a hybrid combination of documentary disjointed, blurry glance. Devils and demons are not those New Dawn Fades is a hybrid blend of documentary style with SOURCE AMOUNT STATUS genre with psychological thriller. It will consist of two parts. In unreal creatures which we express through allegories and € psychological thriller. I imagine it to be in a style similar to the first part, the observational quotidian life of Akın will be myths anymore. They are among us. I would like to think this Meetings on the Bridge CNC Award & experimental documentary, a form with which I found the Ger.Turkish co-production Dev.Fund 16.000 Confirmed presented. In the second part, the narrative will shift into a film as a description of times we live in this country; where chance to toil in my previous works. In terms of its visual blend of psychological thriller and horror genres. In this sense, everything disintegrates. Our memory evokes our own image, New Film Fund - Production Support 3.500 Confirmed approach, it will make use of conventional cinema as well as in New Dawn Fades reality co-exists with the unreal: Akın sees but they are not the same thing anymore. As the clouds once Cinelab Post-Production Award 20.000 Confirmed the aesthetics of documentary. things through his own lithium tolerance vision. This is a ask Akın in the film : ‘Where do you go from here?’. Vigo Film (In Kind Facilities and Deferrals) 83.000 Confirmed distorted version of Turkish society, flirting dangerously with 29P Films (Company Investment and Deferrals) 20.000 Confirmed power, adoration, and sacrifice culture. The story takes place in Ministry of Culture of Turkey - Production Support 100.500 almost constant twilight of Istanbul, we barely see the Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein difference between day and night. Istanbul is ugly, uncanny & World Cinema Fund 130.000 and disturbing. A city is full of devils and strange beings but HBF script dev + HBF+Europe: we can’t see them clearly. There are neighbourhoods we could Minority Co-production Support 34.000 see destruction and violence from afar. While Akın’s drugs Sørfond & DOHA Post-Production Grant 100.000 don’t work, his thoughts become lucid, and at some point Creative Europe - MEDIA – Dev.support towards the end, he becomes transparent. & Eurimages 147.000 Aide aux cinémas du monde (CNC) 110.000

10 SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND 11 ABOUT THE PRODUCER

Oge Obasi’s first production Ojuju (2014), won the Best Nigerian Film at the Africa Int. Film Festival 2014. O-Town (2016), premiering at Gøteborg IFF, won for best soundtrack at the 2016 Africa Movie Academy Awards. Hello, Rain (short, 2018) premiered in comp. at the Int. Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen, followed by Fantasia FF where it got a Special Mention, also nominated for the Short Film Award at London FF 2018. Obasi is currently participating in the EAVE Producers Workshop 2019.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Director C.J. Obasi and producer Oge Obasi C.J. Obasi directed Ojuju, O-Town and Hello, Rain which has been screened in many festivals, including the Pan African FF FACTS in Los Angeles, Shockproof FF in Prague, New Voices in Black FF in New York, Gothenburg FF and Fantasia FF in Montreal, garnering acclaim from the likes of Screen Anarchy, IndieWire, Original title Mami Wata & Hollywood Reporter. He has won many awards incl. Best English title Mami Wata Nigerian Film (Ojuju), the African Movie Academy Awards, Main producer Oge Obasi (Fiery Film Company) and the Trailblazer Award at AMVCA. He is currently Director C.J. “Fiery” Obasi developing Mami Wata through Less is More. Co-producer Maud Leclair (La Cauve-Souris), France Contact information [email protected] Website www.afieryfilm.com SYNOPSIS MAMI WATA Documentary/fiction Fiction When Mama Efe, the Intermediary between the Mermaid Country Nigeria Goddess Mami Wata and the people of Iyi, a small fishing Mami Wata is set in a fictional village in West Africa, where Mami Wata will be filmed in high contrast black and white, and Expected running time 100 min village in West Africa, is murdered by a former warlord , the fantasy meets reality, but the people have found themselves in my reason for this choice in aesthetic is both sentimental and Production status Script development/financing village is thrown into upheaval. Prisca, Mama Efe’s protégé, as a time where modernity is fighting to strip away the spirit and stylistic. The idea for this story came to me in a clear vivid Expected release date 2021 well as Zinwe, Mama Efe’s rebellious daughter, must put aside identity of the people. There are two opposing forces; both vision. A vision so clear that every time I remember it, I get Total budget € 500,000 their differences in order to defeat the warlord and restore the extreme, but in the end we will perhaps learn that one doesn’t goosebumps. In this vision, I see Mami Wata, the mermaid Confirmed financing € 215 000 village to its glory. have to give up one for the other. This is the story of West goddess standing in the ocean, as the waves crash around her Africa, and Africa as a whole, and by using potent allegories feet. The sky and clouds are thick darkness. She is beautiful, that represent real African societies, the universal question of dark, glorious. She calls out for her daughter from the Ocean, FINANCING PLAN DIRECTOR’S NOTE who we were and who we should be is somehow explored. and I see her daughter walking slowly towards her, as if in a

trance. The vision ends. I saw this vision in black and white, Mami Wata is a water spirit and popular figure in West African SOURCE AMOUNT € STATUS We have four main characters driving the story – Mama Efe, and since then I have not been able to see the film any other mythology. When the image of Mami Wata hit me, I could see Fiery Film Company 15 000 Confirmed who embodies the ancient, traditional ways, and will not budge way – sentimental, I realize. But then as a style, I feel that black this glorious image of the goddess standing by the Ocean’s or make room for modernity. Zinwe, who embodies the and white offers me the opportunity to push the visuals of the La Chauve-Souris 15 000 Confirmed shores, as she calls for her long lost child, who must return to spiritual world – a child of the mermaid goddess, whose film in a way that’s rooted organically in the raw emotions of Nigerian equity 185 000 Confirmed her. The image that came to me was in contrasted destiny lies beyond this world. Jasper, a warlord who is the our characters, good and evil, ancient and modern - as well as Aide aux Cinémas du Monde 110 000 To be applied monochrome, and I knew exactly the story I wanted to tell! I agency of chaos – the one who will upsets the balance in this magnificent vision of this never before seen fictional world, World Cinema Fund 50 000 To be applied wanted to tell the story of a beautiful village. I wanted to talk world. And Prisca, our hero. She embodies not just balance, while offering an innovative aesthetic for a new African Sørfond 80 000 To be applied about a powerful Goddess, who gave her daughter as a gift to a but progressiveness. As we go on our journey with Prisca, we cinema. people. I wanted to talk about destiny and human strength. International sales – MG 20 000 In discussion see that there is neither right nor wrong in tradition or I want to make a kickass fantasy about African spirituality Canal plus International – TV Pre-Sales 5 000 To be applied modernity, but what we choose to be, and the actions we take is grounded in universal themes and exploring genre through an all that counts. Orange Afrique – TV Pre-sales 10 000 To be applied ancient belief system, as well as subverting genre through that same belief system. African cinema has come a long way, but it is for us to take African cinema to the next level. Mami Wata, for me, encapsulates the need to see a new kind of African cinema.

12 SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND 13 ABOUT THE PRODUCER

Kaf is a syrian production house, based in Lebanon, founded in late 2008 by Amira Kaadan and Soudade Kaadan. The Company was crafted from the sisterhood and friendship of both founders. Kaf produced several award winning documentaries and produced their first feature fiction film The Day I Lost my Shadow winner of the Lion of the Future for best debut film in Venice Film Festival 2018. Kaf’s latest production, Aziza won Grand Jury Prize at Sundance 2019.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Soudade Kaadan is a Syrian director, born in France. She Producer/director Soudade Kaadan and co-producer Nadim Cheikhrouha studied theater criticism in the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Syria and filmmaking in Saint Joseph University FACTS (IESAV) Lebanon. Her first feature fiction film The Day I Lost My Shadow was awarded The Lion of the Future Award for best debut film in Venice Film Festival 2018 and has been screened Original title Nezouh in several festivals: TIFF, BFI, Busan and IFFR. Her recent English title Nezouh short film Aziza won Sundance Grand Jury Prize 2019 Main producer Soudade Kaadan (KAF Production) Director Soudade Kaadan Co-producer Nadim Cheikhrouha (Tanit Films, France) SYNOPSIS Amira Kaadan ( Associate producer KAF Production) Contact information [email protected] During the Syrian conflict, a missile destroys the ceiling of NEZOUH Website kafproduction.com Zeina’s house. She is 12 years old and for the first time, she is Documentary/fiction Fiction sleeping under the stars. For the first time, she sees the outside world and makes friends with Amer, the boy next door. When Country Syria/Lebanon/France I started writing Nezouh in 2013, a year after I finished writing changes completely: from darkness to light, from claustro- the violence escalates, Amer’s family decides to leave. But Expected running time 100 min the script of The Day I lost My Shadow. I knew by then that I phobic composition to wide horizons. The camera movement Zeina’s father refuses to become a refugee and tries everything wanted to make two films about Syria with different that was only in horizontal directions changes to include the Production status Pre-production to stop his family from leaving his house-improvised tent. approaches. If the first film is the story of a mother, set in cold vertical one after the bombing. Since the roof and the sky are Expected release date 2021 winter, with handheld camera, and dark tragic tone/ending, part of the space now, the camera moves vertically from the Total budget € 1 209 900 then the second one Nezouh is about a teenage girl, finding room to the roof and opens from the kid’s room to the sky of Confirmed financing € 34 990 DIRECTOR’S NOTE love in the middle of the heat of summer, fixed camera, with Damascus. dark humor and a hopeful tone. It is only after the bombing started in Damascus that I left the The film plays with cinema dans cinema/metacinema in FINANCING PLAN house. Damascene society was closed even in liberated As I wanted to try and test the humor of the film Nezouh, different moments as Amer is a reporter and try to connect families. With the new wave of displacement it’s become

I made a short fiction film based and inspired by the father with Zeina via images and video. Something like American normal for the first time to see young Damascene women SOURCE AMOUNT € STATUS character Mutaz. I needed to test the capacity of the actor to Beauty film, but happening in Syria. While they are both trying living alone. Now that there is no more society something new Cinereach 8 990 Confirmed deliver the subtle dark humor and this is how I made my short to understand the complicated reality they are living, they find has happened. In the middle of war, chaos and tragedy there is Baumi Award & Arte Kino Prize 26 000 Confirmed film Aziza. I chose the same actor I wanted for Nezouh, Abdel refuge in image and filming. We see Zeina looking directly at always some light. “Nezouh” in Arabic is the displacement of Moneim Amayri and experimented with him in the same dark the camera, smiling and doubting what is shown or said with DFI & AFAC 100 000 Applied soul and people. It is also the displacement of darkness. humor tone I wanted in Nezouh. The actor was a genius, and the pigeon story questioning the medium and the reality. I tried HBF development 10 000 Applied we enjoyed working on improvisation. The short won the to explore this playful aspect between reality and fiction with ARTE 150 000 To be applied Grand Jury Prize at Sundance 2019. It made the audience the short film Aziza, and will continue to subtly experiment Distribution France, Distribution Germany, smile, while having tears in their eyes. with this in Nezouh. Sales int. 155 000 To be applied Eurimages & Medienboard 230 000 To be applied Nezouh starts with darkness, we barely see the characters in the FFA & CNC DE-FR MiniTraite 260 000 To be applied warm light of candles. We discover the place as the camera Metafora Prod (coproduction) 120 000 In discussion slowly moves around the house, with Zeina holding the candle. Sørfond 70 000 To be applied Everything is slow in this closed house, like the silence before the storm. Once the bomb falls on the ceiling, the lighting A.R.T TV broadcast MENA-region 100 000 To be applied

14 SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND 15 ABOUT THE PRODUCER

Tran Thi Bich Ngoc graduated from Hanoi Academy of Theatre and Cinema in 1998. She produced Big Father, Small Father and Other Stories by Phan Dang Di, (official competition Berlinale 2015) and The Third Wife by Ash Mayfair, (NETPAC Jury Award TIFF 2018). Ngoc also is co-founder of Autumn Meeting, an international cinema event supporting young film-makers in Vietnam and across the SE Asian region. In 2019, she was named one of Forbes Magazine’s ’50 Most Influential Women’.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Ash Mayfair grew up in Vietnam and was educated in the UK Director Ash Mayfair and producer Tran Thi Bich Ngoc and the US. She received her Master in Filmmaking at NYU Tisch. Her first feature The Third Wife went to over 70 FACTS international film festivals, winning 14 awards and received distribution in 28 territories. Ash Mayfair is passionate about telling character-driven stories that can transcend cultural English title Skin of Youth boundaries. Main producer Tran Thi Bich Ngoc, An Nam Productions, Vietnam. Ash Mayfair, Mayfair Pictures, US. Director Ash Mayfair Contact information Ash Mayfair: [email protected] SYNOPSIS Tran thi Bich Ngoc: [email protected] Documentary/fiction Fiction 1998 Saigon, San wants to make enough money for a sex- SKIN OF YOUTH Country Vietnam change operation that will fulfil her dream of living in a Expected running time 100 min woman’s body. Her boyfriend, Nam, works as an underground Production status Financing dog-cage fighter to support this dream. Little do they know t­­­­hat Living in Saigon in the 90s during my formative years was a Nam’s expertise in violence earns him social merits in certain Expected release date November 2021 the dark forces­ they will have to battle may cost them their blessing, despite the darkness that came with being an artistic circles but leaves him ill-equipped to handle the complexity of relationship and test the limits of their humanity. Total budget € 850 000 child in a communist society. As a teenager exploring my own gender discrimination San has to face. The social expectation Confirmed financing 250 000 sense of identity and sexuality, my growth as a young adult that young Vietnamese men have to deal with are also € coincided with the growth of the LGBT community in the city. damaging, to themselves and to those they love. This film is a story of the Saigon of my childhood. I want to DIRECTOR’S NOTE channel the frustration of Vietnamese youths into these two The visuals of Skin of Youth will be closely tied to the emotional FINANCING PLAN characters who desperately fight against their circumstances perspective of the two main characters, whether they are 23 years after the Fall of Saigon, the egalitarian promises of the and find themselves in a losing battle. San wants a sex change, dancing or fighting. The colors and textures of the 1990s are SOURCE AMOUNT € STATUS Communist have fallen by the wayside. San and Nam throw enough to put herself into situations that endanger her and another important aspect of the film. When the U.S. lifted the Angels Investment Corporation US 200,000 Confirmed themselves daily into the vicious cycle of money and violence those she cares for. Nam wants love, enough to wreck trade embargo in 1994, suddenly there was an explosion of Mayfair Pictures 50,000 Confirmed hoping to have a chance at life. Nonetheless, for this destruction on his body time and time again, since the pain of western cultural imports, from art to film to fashion. As a Purin Pictures Production Fund 2018 25,000 To be applied transgender youth and her lover, the price of being themselves his heart is more difficult to handle. My first film The Third teenager this fascinated me. I wish to bring this kaleidoscopic Visions Sud Est Production Support 2019 40,000 To be applied may be too high. This film is about those who have fallen Wife looks at the lives of women in the 19th century in environment to Skin of Youth and explore the mesmerizing through the cracks and must cling to each other to survive Aide aux cinémas du monde 110,000 To be applied Vietnam. Skin of Youth will continue this observation of sensation of a city shifting daily, much as the people living when their entire world is mercilessly changing. ARTE France 200,000 To be applied womanhood from a different angle, looking at what being a inside it are facing change to their own sense of relationship, woman means emotionally, physically and legally, in a country family and self. World Cinema Fund - Production Fund 40,000 To be applied facing modernization and failing to catch up. Singapore Co Production Fund 110,000 To be applied Sorfond - Norway 60,000 To be applied The desire for self-actualization and the desire for love are hard enough to achieve. In the 1990s in Vietnam, when being transgender or anything other than heterosexual was a huge taboo, this relationship would have been impossible. The character of Nam also represents the macho alpha male mentality that is still pervasive in Vietnamese society today.

16 SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND 17 ABOUT THE PRODUCER

Bruna Haddad is a partner of Nicaraguan production company Felipa Films. Originally from Brazil, she is currently based in City. Bruna is a graduate of the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica, specializing in film production. She´s worked on the production of projects such as Buy me a Gun (2018). She started collaborating with Laura Baumeister on the short film Water Navel (2018, Rotterdam IFF) and is currently developing Laura’s first feature, Daughter of Rage.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Laura Baumeister is a Nicaraguan film director. She studied at Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica. Laura has directed the short films Isabel im Winter (2014, Critics’ Week, Cannes); Fuerza Bruta (2016, Rencontres de Toulouse FF); and Water Producer Bruna Haddad -Navel (2018, Rotterdam IFF). She is currently developing her first feature, Daughter of Rage. The project recently received the FACTS HB Minority Coproduction Support, among other funds.

Original title La Hija de todas las Rabias SYNOPSIS English title Daughter of Rage Main producer Felipa Films In an endless hazy dump in Nicaragua, eight-year-old Maria Director Laura Baumeister struggles through her life being neglected by her mother. Co-producers Martfilms (Mexico) – Halal (The Netherlands) – Promenades When she accidentally kills the newborn puppies about to be Films (France) – Heimatfilm (Germany) sold, she’s left on her own to work and live in a recycling Contact information [email protected] factory as punishment. Maria will learn ways to survive and DAUGHTER OF RAGE Documentary/fiction Fiction accept this abandonment, using her strong will and rich Country Nicaragua imagination. Expected running time 90 min Daughter of Rage is a movie about a mother and daughter Daughter of Rage is a coproduction between Nicaragua, Mexico, Production status Final stage of development. Planning to shoot in April 2020. relationship, in an extreme environment on a waste dump just The Netherlands, Germany and France. We are on the final DIRECTOR’S NOTE outside of the Nicaraguan capital of Managua. In the film this development stage, preparing to shoot in April 2020. The Expected release date May 2021 place functions as a closed dystopian universe with its own project has received Fundación Carolina writing residency and Total budget € 787,940 Daughter of Rage is a film about a mother-daughter landscape and rules. Ibermedia and Hubert Bals development funds. We have Confirmed financing 20% relationship set in a hostile waste dump just outside Managua, previously presented the project at film markets such at the Nicaragua. The dump seems endless; stretched across multiple The story is about Maria, a young girl that by accident poisons Berlinale, Guadalajara FICG, Boos Ultrech Cinemart (won the kilometers, confined by a range of hills on one side and the the purebred puppies that represent the only urgent income Wouter Barendrecht Award) and San Sebastian (won three FINANCING PLAN polluted lake Xolotlán on the other. This landscape resembles that her mother is counting on. In a furious and desperate awards: Best project at the Europe-Latinamerica Coproduction an isolated dystopian universe and is home to a marginal reaction, the mother punishes Maria by taking her to work and forum, Efads-CAACI Grant and The Arte Kino Prize). We are SOURCE AMOUNT € STATUS society with its own dynamics. Here our story unfolds. live in a recycling factory at the local waste dump. The currently finalizing our script in the Sundance Lab in Morelia, Nicaragua – Hubert Bals Development & abandonment experienced by Maria will set the ground of our Mexico. Ibermedia dev. 23.635 Confirmed story where we explore the raw and extremes of this mother Nicaragua – San Sebastian Award, Arte Kino Prize, W. Barendrecht award and daughter relationship. Through her journey, Maria will & EFADS-CAACI Grant 41.000 Confirmed learn ways to survive using her fertile imagination. The Netherlands – HALAL prod. & HBF+Europe 55.000 Confirmed Mexico – Martfilms In cash/Kind 36.363 Confirmed The story relates to universal topics such as the environmental Mexico – Ibermedia 20% & EFICINE 153.636 Pending crisis, maternity and social inequality. The team behind this project are mostly women bonded by the desire to make film, Nicaragua – Visions Sud Est & Ibermedia 80% 142.526 Pending with strong female driven characters. It is very important to The Netherlands – HBF NFF 50.000 Pending highlight that this is going to be the first fiction feature in France – CNC & other regional funds 154.000 Pending Nicaragua directed by a female director in the history of the Germany – WCF & other funds 76.780 Pending Nicaraguan Cinema. The Netherlands – HBF Post production 55.000 To apply TOTAL 787,940

18 SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND 19 FILMS SUPPORTED BY SØRFOND SCREENING AT THE FILMS FROM THE SOUTH FESTIVAL 2019

YOU WILL DIE AT TWENTY KHARTOUM OFFSIDE 1982 Sudan, France, Egypt, Norway, Germany, Sudan, Norway, Denmark 2019 Libanon, USA, Norway, Qatar 2019 Qatar 2019 Director: Marwa Zein Director: Oualid Mouaness Director: Amjad Abu Alala Norwegian co-producer: Stray Dog Norwegian co-producer: Barentsfilm v/ Norwegian co-producer: DUO film AS v/ Productions AS Ingrid Lill Høgtun Linda Bolstad Strønen, Ingrid Lill Høgtun, v/ Henrik Underbjerg Sørfond + support: 50 000 € Marie Fuglestein Lægreid Sørfond support: 250 000 NOK Sørfond + support: 50 000 €

Fri 08/11 20:15 Vika 4 Fri 08/11 18:00 Vega Scene 3 Sat 09/11 16:00 Cinemateket - Lillebil Sat 09/11 14:00 Cinemateket - Lillebil Sun 10/11 20:30 Vega Scene 2 Sun 10/11 15:15 Vika 4 Sun 10/11 15:00 Vika 2 Fri 15/11 18:00 Vega Scene 3 Tue 12/11 18:00 Vika 4 Wed 13/11 21:15 Vika 4 Sat 16/11 13:30 Vega Scene 3 Sat 16/11 20:45 Vika 4

DIVINE LOVE MADE IN BANGLADESH Brazil, Uruguay, Denmark, , Norway, Bangladesh, France, Denmark, Portugal Sweden 2019 2019 Director: Gabriel Mascaro Director: Rubaiyat Hossain Norwegian co-producer: Mer Film AS v/ Co-producer: Echo Films v/Michel Zana Maria Ekerhovd (France) Sørfond support: 400 000 NOK Sørfond + support: 50 000 € What would life Sat 16/11 19:00 Vega Scene 1 Fri 08/11 20:15 Vika 4 Sat 16/11 20:00 Vega Scene 2 Sat 09/11 14:00 Cinemateket - Lillebil be without movies? Sat 16/11 20:00 Vega Scene 3 Sun 10/11 15:00 Vika 2 Sun 17/11 18:00 Cinemateket - Tancred Wed 13/11 21:15 Vika 4 For years we have delivered experiences, feelings and a huge amount of film rolls to many different film festivals. We hope that you have had as much fun as we have!

As Films from the South’s logistics partner, we take pride in delivering film to support culture and movie makers all over the world.

20 SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND © 2019 United Parcel Service of America, Inc. All rights reserved. SINCE ITS START IN 2012, SØRFOND HAS SUPPORTED 46 FILM PROJECTS – BOTH FICTION AND DOCUMENTARY. A FEW PROJECTS SUPPORTED BY SØRFOND FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF PROJECTS SUPPORTED BY SØRFOND VISIT WWW.SORFOND.COM

CACTUS FLOWER THEOVERGOD UNTAMED CECILIAAMAL LA FAMILIA Fiction, Egypt Fiction, BrazilMexico Documentary, EgyptIndia / Lebanon Fiction, Director: Hala ElKoussy Director: GabrielAmat Escalante Mascaro Director: MohamedPankaj Johar Siam Director: Gustavo Rondón Córdova Norwegian co-producer: DUOfilm AS by Marie Fuglestein Norwegian Co-producer:co-producer: MerMER Film Film AS AS by by Maria Maria Ekerhovd Ekerhovd Norwegian co-producer: BarentsfilmLightsource FilmAS Productionsby Ingrid Lill ASHøgtun Norwegian co-producer: Dag Hoel Filmproduksjon AS by Dag Hoel Lægreid and Linda Bolstad Main producer: DesviaMantarraya Produções Producciones by Rachel Ellis byMain Arne producer: Dahr Abbout Productions and Artkhana Main producer: La Pandilla Producciones Main producer: Transit Films The project recieved:received: NOK 500,000400,000 MainThe project producer: received Penny NOK Wise 350,000 Films The project recieved NOK 400,000 The project received: NOK 370,000 The project recieved: NOK 300 000

CANDELARIA BEAUTY AND THE DOGS WAKOLDARAFIKITHE RIVER: ASLAN AND HIS BROTHERS CEMETARY OF SPLENDOUR Fiction, Colombia Fiction, Tunisia FictionFiction,, KazakhstanArgentinaKenya, South Africa 2018 Fiction, Thailand Director: Jhonny Hendrix Director: Kaouther Ben Hania and Khaled Walid Barsaoui Director: EmirLucíaWanuri Baigazin Puenzo Kahiu Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul Norwegian co-producer: Dag Hoel Filmprod AS by Dag Hoel Norwegian co-producer: Integralfilm AS by Jørgen and Nefise Norwegian co-producer: NorskHummelfilmApe&Bjørn Filmproduksjon AS v/Gudny by Ruben ASHummelvoll Thorkildsen,by Hilde Berg Norwegian co-producer: Tordenfilm by Eric Vogel and Ingunn Sundelin Main producer: Antorcha Films Özkal Lorentzen VeronaMain producer: Meier EmirHistorías Baigazin Cinemaográficas Production Main producer: Kick the Machine Films The project received: NOK 415,000 Main producer: Cinetelefilms TheMain project producer: received:received Big World NOKNOK 750,000Cinema,750,000 AfroBubbleGum The project recived NOK 400,000 The project recieved NOK 500,000 Sørfond support: NOK 750 000

WAJIB THESAMUI HEIRESSES SONG LAMB AMALMURDER IN PACOT Fiction, Jordan / Palestine Fiction,Fiction, ThailandParaguay 2018 Fiction, Ethiopia Documentary,Fiction, Haiti Egypt, Libanon 2017 Director: Annemarie Jacir Director: Pen-ekMarcelo Ratanaruang Martinessi Director: Yared Zeleke Director: RaoulMohamed Peck Siam Norwegian co-producer: Ape&Bjørn AS by Ruben Thorkildsen Norwegian co-producer: Tenk.tvNorsk Film-produksjon by Frode Søbstad AS by Hilde Berg Norwegian co-producer: Film Farms by Alan R. Milligan Norwegian co-producer: Ape&BjørnBarentsfilm ASby byIngrid Ruben Lill ThorkildsenHøgtun Main producer: Philistine Films Main producer: BlueringLa Babosa Company Cine Limited Main producer: Slum Kid Films Main producer: VelvetAbout ProductionFilm The project received: NOK 550,000 The project received:recieved NOK NOK 400,000 415 000 The project recieved NOK 450,000 SørfondThe project support: recieved NOK NOK 350 425,000 000

2226 SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND 2327 NEXT DEADLINE FOR SØRFOND PRODUCTION SUPPORT: BEGINNING OF MARCH 2020

www.sorfond.com

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