Thessaloniki Agora – Industry Manual

Transcription

Agora Team [Who is Who]
Marie-Pierre Macia
Coordinator Agora Industry
Crossroads Co-production
Forum Artistic Director
Yianna Sarri
Head of Market
Contents
4
Festival Venues
5
Useful Information for the Agora Industry
6
Thessaloniki Agora Industry Awards and Partners
8
Agora Industry Overview
10 Agora Industry Juries
Denise Andreola
Agora Film Market &
Agora WiP Coordinator
12 Crossroads Projects
46 Agora Works in Progress
Angeliki Vergou
Crossroads &
Agora WiP Coordinator
Panagiotis Galios
Agora Industry Production
Geortina Serpieri
Agora Industry Assistant
Hippolyte Lykavieris
Crossroads Assistant
60 Agora Film Market
Official Selection
Film Market
Crossroads Participants’ Previous Films
56th Thessaloniki IFF-2015 - Agora Industry Manual
Dear friends,
We are really happy to present once again the selections of the Agora Industry
and its parallel events: the Crossroads Co-production Forum, the Agora Works in
Progress and the films taking part in the Agora Film Market.
This year we will present 226 titles at the Agora Film Market, 14 projects at the
Crossroads Co-production Forum and 10 projects at the Agora Works in Progress.
The Agora Industry is designed to promote foremost the Greek films and help the
Greek professionals as well as the Balkan, Mediterranean and Central European
movie professionals to implement their cinematic projects.
The joint involvement of these countries reinforces the relationship between them,
which, although separated geographically, are culturally united through the
international language of cinema.
Agora Industry’s aim is to offer to all participating professionals a unique networking
atmosphere and offer them the right means in their search of new films and
projects.
Agora Industry has been an important part of the Thessaloniki Film Festival since
2005 and we are grateful to all our friends, old and new, for their support and
interest in our efforts all these years.
We wish you a pleasant stay and we are ready to welcome you to Thessaloniki!
Dimitri Eipides
Thessaloniki International Film Festival Director
and the Agora Industry Team
3
THE FESTIVAL VENUES / CITY MAP
Useful Information for the Agora Industry
z
z
z
z
z
The Agora Industry is located on the ground floor of Warehouse C, at the Port of Thessaloniki.
Working hours: 10.00-20.00, from 7 to 14.11.2015
Access: All registered delegates with TIFF Industry/Press badge have free access to the Agora Industry
All Agora Industry badges are issued at the Accreditation Desk (Warehouse C, ground floor)
All Agora Industry delegates are requested to issue zero value tickets for all official festival screenings upon the
presentation of their badge (except from the Opening and Closing Ceremonies). Please return the tickets you will
not use to the Agora Industry Information Desk.
z All Agora Industry delegates have free access to the Press / Industry Screenings: Frida Liappa Theatre & Tonia
Marketaki Theatre 09.00-13.00
Agora Industry Services
z
z
z
z
z
Accreditation & Information Desk
Shared exhibition space for sellers
Wi-Fi
Special meeting area
Happy Hour at the 1st floor of Warehouse C, 18.00-19.00 (8-12.11.2015)
Agora Film Market
z The Film Market facilities are open from the 7th to the 14th of November, 10.00-20.00. On Saturday the 14th of
z
z
z
z
November the Film Market will close at 16.00.
30 booths fully digital are located at Warehouse C on the ground floor.
Booking should be made one day in advance at the Film Market reception.
Booths can be booked for a maximum of four consecutive hours.
You are kindly requested to register your evaluation of each film you have watched.
Agora Works in Progress
The Agora Works in Progress films will be screened at Olympion Theater on the 12th of November at 10.30 to 13.30.
Access is strictly allowed to the Agora Industry delegates.
Crossroads Co-production Forum individual meetings
The individual meetings with the Crossroads Participants will be held in the Agora Industry area of Warehouse C,
ground floor, 10. 00-18.00
Agora Industry Offices
Our offices are located at the ground floor of Warehouse C. Office hours: 10.00-20.00
5
THESSALONIKI AGORA INDUSTRY
AWARDS AND PARTNERS
Over the past 20 years, MEDIA, the EU's support programme for the European audiovisual industry, has supported the development
and distribution of thousands of films as well as training activities, festivals and promotion projects throughout the continent. From
2001 to 2006, more than half a billion euro were injected into 8.000 projects from over 30 countries.
Graal is the only complete Digital Intermediate (DI) post production house in Greece, performing high quality image processing,
punctually and in any medium or format. Graal’s vision, as the name suggests, is the never-ending effort for the optimum results,
with emphasis on quality. The company’s focus is on building and maintaining its reputation for technical excellence, outstanding
value and professionalism. Graal is dedicated to the continuous integration of new technologies through national and international
collaborations in the film-making industry. The in-house team consists of audiovisual post-production professionals with diverse expertise. Graal seeks to enhance the Greek film industry and expand beyond the borders of the Greek market. Graal offers high quality
image processing in any medium or format, in competitive prices, by professionals with diverse expertise and in-depth knowledge.
Graal is sponsoring the AGORA WORKS IN PROGRESS Co-production Award
two thirty five
2|35 Inc. (two thirty five) is a privately held film production and post production company, located in the centre of Athens, Greece. It
was established in July 2007 by experienced professionals with more than fifteen years each in the industry. The company serves the
local and international film post production industry and participates in selected productions as a co-producer, offering production
and post production services. We offer full Digital Intermediate (DI) 4K, 2K, and HD workflows and work to the highest technical
specifications across all acquisition and distribution formats, both analog and digital. Services include digital film scanning, editing,
digital visual effects, graphics, colour grading, sound design, Dolby digital sound mixing, video encoding, film restoration, digital
picture and sound film recording, digital cinema mastering. Two Thirty Five has completed work on numerous award winning films
and has a filmography of 61 features, 14 documentaries and 86 shorts including stereoscopic 3D films, Digital Cinema masters,
teasers, trailers and planetarium/dome projections.
2|35 is offering the CROSSROADS Co-production Award
Created by the law of 25 October 1946, the Centre National du Cinéma et de l'Image Animée (CNC) is a public administrative
organization, set up as a separate and financially independent entity. The Directorate of European and international affairs prepares,
negotiates and monitors bilateral co-production agreements, assists and participates in the functioning of Eurimages (multilateral
support fund for co-production, under the Council of Europe). In addition, the Directorate of European and international affairs runs
bilateral cooperation schemes with countries having emerging film production sectors. Furthermore, it jointly runs and funds the
Fonds Sud Cinéma with the ministry of foreign affairs, and supports training schemes for foreign professionals and various festivals
or professional seminars.
CNC is offering the CROSSROADS development award
Founded in 1993 Initiative film is the first European consulting company specialized in development process for professionals as
producers, screenwriters, directors, actors et al. Attentive partner from the birth of the story to the start of production we accompany
creative process linked to artistic and economic feasibility of the projects. We are working as development advisor, helping to take the
necessary distance in relation to a work in progress in order to facilitate his viability in the market. After several-years of fruitful
collaboration with Crossroads Co-production Forum, Isabelle Fauvel submitted to its team an Initiative Film award. It allows one
selected Greek project to be followed from its current state, as presented in Crossroads to a full analysis of its evolution in a period of 6
months after the Thessaloniki International Film Festival.
6
An exclusive program of meet-and-greets
Launched in 2004, the Producers Network hosts around 550 producers from all over the world in a series of meetings created to
stimulate international coproduction. Every day an individually tailored program reserved for producers will give you the opportunity to find financial partners also
interested in international distribution of their films:
Breakfast: various industry personalities are invited to share their experiences in the industry around a themed presentation which
will touch on all of the aspects of the production and distribution of film over breakfast. Speed-Dating: gives producers time to mingle and make deals for their Projects;
Master Class: an expert will share their advice and professional knowledge of a specific part of the world or of a recent development
in the industry;
Happy Hour: a lively atmosphere for professional encounters.
The winning producer will have the chance to participate in the next round of the Producer’s Network.
Sofia Meetings, supported by the Media programme of the EU, is an event that aims to promote new projects from young European
filmmakers and new films from Bulgaria and the Balkan region to European film festivals, sales agents and distributors.
Sofia Meetings is oriented towards professional audience (producers, directors, world sales, distributors, representatives of financing
organizations and film festivals). It has two separate modules:
Pitching – presentation of first, second and third feature film projects looking for financial support and cooperation.
Balkan Screenings – showcase of the latest Bulgarian and regional feature and short flms for directors and programmes from
different international festivals, world sales companies and journalists.
Additional events such as lectures, training programs, presentations happen simultaneously to the Sofia Meetings.
One Crossroads project will be selected to participate in the next round of Sofia Meetings
MFI Script 2 Film Workshops is an advanced training initiative under the umbrella of the MEDIA Programme of the European Union.
Essentially a script & project development program, it is based on group work, Q&Α sessions, case studies & individual consultations,
and consists of 4 intensive workshops (2 on-location in the Greek islands of Nissyros and Samos, and 2 on-line hosted in MFI’s web
site). Its primary objective is to fully develop the participating screenplays, from first or subsequent draft to final draft, through a
process of workshops that emphasize on script analysis, revision & rewriting. Its second objective is to help participants to set up an
effective project development process (presentation, pitching, fundraising & production strategies) and help them reach the stage
of production. One Crossroads project will be given scholarship to participate in the next round of Script 2 Film Workshops.
ACE – Ateliers du cinéma européen
Every year a dozen European producers are selected to participate in the ACE programme. Thanks to the workshops and the close
personal monitoring offered by ACE, the producers can dramatically increase the possibility of a film’s success. ACE helps the producers
construct coherent projects by focusing on both the creative and financial dimensions of film making. Exchange of ideas, script
analysis, preparation of financing plans, identification of and search for partners…the entire method for project development is
designed with the ACE producers (who remain the decision-makers on the projects).
Since its inception, more than 200 feature film producers from 23 European territories have joined the ranks of ACE. Over the years,
ACE has become not only an operational structure providing professional advice on the various aspects of feature film production,
but also an important and active network of European producers.
As part of the 37th Cinemed, the Cinemed Meetings include three days dedicated to film professionals:
8 25th Development Grant
8 10th Roundtables for Professionals 8 3rd Co-production Meetings (breakfasts and one-on-ones)
Cinemed Meetings are open to all professionals in the Mediterranean and to professionals with an interest in production problems
in the region.
Cinemed Meetings, which lie at the heart of the 37th Cinemed, took place from 27-29 October.
12 to 14 planned feature films presented by their directors and producers to a panel of five professionals, with pitching sessions
open to all professionals, on the 27 and 28 October.
Grants: CNC grant for € 7000, OIF grant for € 7000, Languedoc-Roussillon grant for € 4000, Beaumarchais Association grant for € 3000. CINEMED will include at least 1 Greek project in the Development Grant selection according to its state of development and follow
the films from Crossroads and Works in Progress in regards to its program selection.
CINEUROPA is the first European portal dedicated to cinema and audiovisual in 4 languages. With daily news, interviews, data bases,
in-depth investigations into the audiovisual industry, Cineuropa aims at promoting the European film industry throughout the
world. Welcome to a platform where professionals can meet and exchange information and ideas.
7
Agora Industry Manual - 56th Thessaloniki IFF-2015
Thessaloniki Agora Industry Overview
Since the first industry event in 2003 with Balkan Fund until the full evolution of the Agora Industry many film projects have been presented
in all kinds of development stages. These films have made their premiere in prestigious festivals, won awards and have also been screened at
Thessaloniki International Film Festival. We are committed in enlarging that list and put our efforts into continuing to support films from
Central Europe and the Balkan and Mediterranean countries.
Motherland
The Sky Above Us
Seaburners
by Senem Tüzen (Turkey/Greece) 2015
Venice Film Festival – Intl Critics Week
Thessaloniki Intl Film Festival
Crossroads Co-production Forum Award 2012
by Marinus Groothof
(Netherlands/Belgium/Serbia/Greece)
Intl Film Festival Rotterdam
Belgrade Film Festival
Agora Works in Progress 2013
by Melisa Önel (Turkey) 2014
Berlin Film Festival - Forum
Crossroads Co-production Forum 2011
Agora Works in Progress Award 2012
Interruption
by Yorgos Zois (Greece/France/Croatia) 2015
Venice Film Festival – Orizzonti
Thessaloniki Intl Film Festival – International
Competition
Balkan Fund 2010
Factory Girl
by Mohamed Khan (Egypt/UAE) 2014
Dubai Intl Film Festival
Mustang
Chlorine
by Deniz Gamze Ergüven
(France/Turkey/Germany) 2015
Cannes Film Festival – Director’s Fortnight
Karlovy Vary Intl Film Festival
Toronto Film Festival
by Lamberto Sanfelice (Italy) 2014
Sundance Film Festival
Berlin Film Festival - Generation 14plus
As I Open My Eyes
by Layla Bouzid (France/Tunisia/Belgium/UAE) 2015
Venice Film Festival – Venice Days
Love, Theft and
Other Entanglements
by Muayad Alayan (Palestine) 2015
Berlin Film Festival – Panorama
Film Festival Gent
Vancouver Intl Film Festival
Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me
by Hadar Morag (Israel/France)
Venice Film Festival - Orizzonti
Stratos
by Yannis Economides (Greece/Germany/Cyprus) 2014
Berlin Film Festival – International Competition
Next to Her
by Asaf Korman (Israel) 2014
Cannes Film Festival – Director’s Forthnight
Thessaloniki Intl Film Festival - Silver Alexander
Agora Works in Progress – Graal Award 2013
Necktie Youth
8
Barbarians
by Ivan Ikic (Serbia/Montenegro/Slovenia) 2014
Karlovy Vary Intl Film Festival –
East of the West Competition
Thessaloniki Intl Film Festival – Balkan Survey
Balkan Fund Award 2010
Viktoria
by Maya Vitkova (Bulgaria/Romania) 2014
Sundance Film Festival - World Dramatic Competition
Balkan Fund 2005
Late Season
by Danilo Caputo (Italy/Greece) 2014
When I Saw You
by Annemarie Jacir (Jordan/Palestine/Greece) 2012
Abu Dhabi Film Festival – Best Arab Film
Berlin Film Festival – NETPAC Best Asian Film Award
Palestine’s 2013 Oscar Entry
Agora Works in Progress Award 2011
My Dog Killer
by Sibs Shongwe – La Mer (South Africa) 2015
Berlin Film Festival – Panorama
Tribeca Intl Film Festival
New Horizons Film Festival
London Film Festival
At Home
by Athanasios Karanikolas
(Greece/Germany) 2014
Berlin Film Festival - Forum
Thessaloniki Intl Film Festival – Greek Program
by Mira Fornay (Slovak Republic/Czech Republic) 2013
Intl Film Festival Rotterdam – Tiger Award
Munich Intl Film Festival – Cinema Vision Award
Slovak Republic’s 2013 Oscar Entry
Agora Works in Progress 2012 – Honorary Mention
Impressions of a Drowned Man
Forever
The Japanese Dog
by Kyros Papavassiliou (Cyprus/Greece/Slovenia) 2015
Intl Film Festival Rotterdam – Competition
by Margarita Manda (Greece) 2014
Intl Film Festival Rotterdam
Cairo Intl Film Festival
by Tudor Cristan Jurgiu (Romania) 2013
San Sebastian Intl Film Festival
Luton
Unfair World
Aurora
by Michalis Konstantatos (Greece/Germany) 2013
San Sebastian Intl Film Festival
London Film Festival
New Horizons Film Festival
by Filippos Tsitos (Greece/Germany) 2011
San Sebastian Film Festival
by Cristi Puiu
(Romania/France/Switzerland/Germany) 2010
Cannes Film Festival - Un Certain Regard
Balkan Works in Progress 2009
Wild Duck
by Yannis Sakaridis (Greece) 2013
Toronto Film Festival – City to City section
Busan Intl Film Festival – Flash Forward Competition
Thessaloniki Intl Film Festival –
International Competition
Standing Aside, Watching
by Yorgos Servetas (Greece) 2013
Berlin Film Festival - Panorama
Amnesty
by Bujar Alimani
(Albania/Greece/France) 2011
Berlin Film Festival – Forum
Montreal World Cinema Film Festival
J.A.C.E
by Menelaos Karamanghiolis
(Greece/Portugal/FYROM/Turkey/Netherlands) 2011
Tokyo Intl Film Festival
Balkan Fund 2005
Wasted Youth
September
by Penny Panayotopoulou (Greece/Germany) 2013
Karlovy Vary Intl Film Festival – Competition
Balkan Fund Award Winner 2010
Boy Eating the Bird’s Food
by Ektoras Lygizos (Greece) 2012
Karlovy Vary Intl Film Festival –
Thessaloniki Intl’ Film Festival –
by Argyris Papadimitropoulos &
Jan Vogel (Greece) 2011
Intl Film Festival Rotterdam - Competition
BAFICI
Outbound
by Bogdan George Apetri (Romania) 2010
Locarno Intl Film Festival
Thessaloniki Intl Film Festival - Golden Alexander
Ajami
by Scandar Copti & Yaron Shani
(Israel/Germany) 2009
Cannes Film Festival - Director’s Fortnight,
Camera D’Or, Special Distinction
Thessaloniki Intl Film Festival - Golden Alexander
Tilva Rosh
by Nikola Lezaic (Serbia) 2010
Locarno Intl Film Festival
Pandora’s Box
Dogtooth
by Yorgos Lanthimos (Greece) 2009
Cannes Film Festival - Un Certain Regard Award
Greek Works in Progress 2008
by Yesim Ustaoglu
(Turkey/France/Germany/Belgium) 2008
San Sebastian - Golden & Silver Shell
Crossroads Co-production Forum Award 2006
Tale 52
by Alexis Alexiou (Greece) 2008
International Film Festival Rotterdam Competition
Greek Works in Progress 2007
Süt (Milk)
by Semih Kaplanoglu (Turkey/France/Germany) 2008
Venice Film Festival
Beyond the Hill
Punk’s Not Dead
by Emin Alper (Turkey) 2012
Best Turkish Film - Istanbul Intl Film Festival
by Vladimir Blazevski
(FYROM/Serbia) 2011
by Özcan Alper (Turkey/Germany) 2008
C.I.C.A.E Award Locarno Intl Film Festival
Adalber’s Dream
California Dreamin’ (Endless)
by Michael Mayer (Israel/ USA) 2012
by Gabriel Achim (Romania) 2011
Reykjavik Intl Film Festival
by Cristian Nemescu (Romania) 2007
Cannes Film Festival - Un Certain Regard Award
Balkan Fund 2004
Everybody in Our Family
Loverboy
Grbavica (Esma’s Secret)
by Radu Jude (Romania/Netherlands) 2012
by Catalin Mitulescu (Romania) 2011
Cannes Film Festival - Un Certain Regard
by Jasmila Zbanic (Bosnia & Herzegovina) 2004
Berlin Film Festival –Golden Bear
Out in the Dark
Autumn
9
Agora Works in Progress Jury 2015
Fabienne Hanclot – ACID, France
After 7 years at the French Institute of Athens where she founded and programmed the French Film Festival, Fabienne Hanclot went back
to Paris to program and run an Art House movie theatre. Since 2007, she is the general delegate of ACID (association for independent
cinema and its distribution). The ACID program at the Cannes International Film Festival was created in 1993. The films are chosen by
fifteen or so filmmakers, members of ACID, formerly programmed in Cannes or whose films were supported during the year. It screens
nine feature films, fiction and documentary, chosen from among hundreds of works from all around the world. ACID filmmakers follow
their love for a film and wish to give visibility to directors whose work is scarcely distributed, in order to facilitate a theatrical release.
Maren Kroymann – M-Appeal, Germany
Maren Kroymann studied Law in Paris and finished her studies with a D.E.A. postgraduate Law degree from the University Paris
XIV. She worked with the German subsidiary of the French documentary channel Planet for seven years as director of on air promotion
and marketing, later becoming head of programming/acquisitions. In the meantime, she collaborated on several documentary projects
in Berlin as researcher and director’s assistant. In 2004, Maren began working in international sales for MDC int. before founding Berlinbased M-Appeal World Sales in January 2008.
Christos Behtsis – Seven Films, Greece
He was born in Neos Skopos of Serres in 1965 and he studied at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. From his youth, his love of cinema
dominated his life, so he decided to enter the field of films, opening his first video club in 1986. In 2000, already the owner of seven video
clubs chain stores, he founded in Thessaloniki the company Seven Group SA. The Seven Spot store chain spread throughout Greece with
almost 100 shops by 2010. In 2007 he also founded the company Seven Films, which operates to this day in the field of film distribution,
successfully conquering an important role in the distribution of independent, arthouse films in the Greek market and representing great
international film directors, such as Denis Villeneuve, Lars von Trier, Thomas Wittenberg, the Dardenne Brothers, Anton Corbijn, Jacques
Audiard, etc.
Titus Kreyenberg – unafilm, Germany
Crossroads Co-Production Jury 2015
Titus Kreyenberg was an executive producer for film and television for many years before he founded his own production company
unafilm in 2004. Unafilm produces feature films. Straight forward and artistically challenging. Fiction and documentary. National and international. The company’s films compete in internationally acknowledged film festivals around the world - Berlinale, Cannes, Toronto,
San Sebastian and Karlovy Vary among them. The German-Swiss coproduction Colours in the Dark with Bruno Ganz was a major success in
German cinemas, the German-Turkish coproduction Our Grand Despair by Seyfi Teoman premiered in competition at the Berlinale 2011.
Heli by Amat Escalante was selected to the official competition in Cannes 2013 to win the award for Best Director. In 2014, unafilm was
present in Cannes’ Official Selection with its coproduction The Bridges of Sarajevo. The Cologne and Berlin-based unafilm is an active
member of ACE (Atelier du Cinema Européen), EAVE, AG DOK, the German and the European Film Academy.
Fenia Cossovitsa – Blonde, Greece
Fenia Cossovitsa is co-founder of BLONDE audiovisual productions, an Athens independent film production company. She is the company’s
producer, responsible also for the strategy, development and coordination of the feature films, documentaries, TV programs and other audiovisual projects covering the production services the company offers. Producer Fenia Cossovitsa numbers already over 20 Greek and/or
international feature films and documentaries in her resumé and has worked as a producer with internationally acclaimed filmmakers
like Peter Bogdanovic (The Cat’s Meow) and Jonathan Nossiter (Signs and Wonders). Film has always been one of Blonde’s main passions
and with its extensive experience in the film industry Blonde can produce any type of film covering all areas of the demanding production
process. She produced the second feature film by Menelaos Karamaghiolis J.A.C.E. (6 awards to the Greek Film Academy Awards 2013),
has produced a first feature film by Yorgos Servetas Standing Aside, Watching selected to TIFF 2013 as the Opening Film for City to City
section and to Berlinale Panorama 2014, and she co-produced Brigitte Roüan’s latest feature Tu honoreras ta mere et ta mere with AGAT
Films (France) and the first feature film Blind Sun by greek-lebanese director, Joyce A. Nashawati. In 2015 she co-produced with Archipel
35 (FRANCE) the second feature film by Delphine and Muriel Coulin entitled Voir Du Pays shot last summer, and she is the executive
producer of the 2nd feature film by Greek director Sotiris Tsafoulias entitled The Other Me. BLONDE is also the coproducer of the first
feature film entitled A mon age je me cache encore pour fumer by Algerian-French director Rayhana produced by KG productions – Michele
and Costa Gavras. The shooting took place in July 2015 in Thessaloniki - Greece.
Joseph Rouschop – Tarantula, Belgium
Graduated in Communication Arts and Sciences from the University of Liège, Joseph Rouschop created Tarantula Belgium at the end of
the ‘90s, driven by the wish to safeguard the sincerity and dreams of the filmmakers with whom he was working. He produced his first
documentaries and short films, and always underpinning his work is the desire to put people at the heart of them, with strong and
meaningful subject matter. Since 2002 and the first feature film A Piece of Sky by Bénédicte Liénard, which was shown in the official
selection at the Cannes Film Festival, Tarantula has contributed to the vitality of Belgian audio-visual production with films like Folie
Privée and Private Property by Joachim Lafosse, La Cantante de Tango by Diego Martinez Vignatti, Last Winter by John Shank, and Mobile
Home by François Pirot. Tarantula also plays a role in cinema without borders, in international co-productions with Mexico (Batalla en el
cielo by Carlos Reygadas), Canada (Congorama by Philippe Falardeau), Palestine, Taïwan...
10
CROSSROADS CO-PRODUCTION FORUM
10-14 NOVEMBER 2015
Crossroads aims to support the producers
of feature-length film projects that are linked
to Central Europe, the Mediterranean
and the Balkan regions.
two thirty five
AWARD SPONSOR
CHARLTON HESTON
Romania
page 14
ΤHE DEATH OF BLACK HORSES
Turkey
page 16
THE DISAPPEARED
Turkey
page 18
ELEFSINA
Greece
page 20
I WILL CROSS TOMORROW
the
crossroads
projects
Greece/France
page 22
INTERROGATION
Turkey
page 24
THE LAND OF NO ONE
Greece
page 26
THE MISTAKE
Romania
page 28
THE RIVER
Greece
page 30
THE SEAM LINE
Israel
page 32
A SHELTER AMONG THE CLOUDS
Albania
page 34
THE T FACTOR
Italy
page 36
TIDE
Lebanon
page 38
USUD
Serbia / Bosnia & Herzegovina
page 40
Crossroads Projects
Charlton Heston
Romania
Produced by: ICON PRODUCTION,
KINOSSEUR PRODUCTIONS
Director: Andrei Creţulescu
Scriptwriter: Andrei Creţulescu
Producers: Velvet Moraru (Icon),
Codruta Creţulescu (Kinosseur)
Budget: 649,337 Euro
Secured Financing: 50,2%
Location: Bucharest, seaside
Looking for: co-production
(mainly: sound crew plus equipment,
camera crew plus equipment,
postproduction, bit part talent, composer),
world sales.
SYNOPSIS
On the Friday night when he turns 42, and just a few weeks after his wife, Ioana, died in a car accident, a drunken Alexandru
is visited by Sebastian (26), who introduces himself as Ioana's lover for the past five months. After the first moments of
shock, Alexandru hits the young man and pulls him into the house. Saturday. Sebastian starts telling Alexandru details of his
love affair with Ioana. Clearly inconsolable, he has come to his former rival with a bizarre request: he wants to know
everything about the woman he still loves, he wants Alexandru to help him get over the loss and, last but not least, he
wants to help Alexandru overcome the huge loss as well.
Sunday. Alexandru takes Sebastian to lunch at Ioana's parents. Gathered around the table, they eat in silence for a while.
Then, realizing that Sebastian knows a lot about her daughter, Ioana's mother begins to ask him questions, but Alexandru
responds in his place: Sebastian and Ioana used to be lovers. The two men leave – Sebastian wounded, Alexandru triumphant.
Monday. Alexandru decides it's time for the final blow and takes Sebastian to the seaside. They stop at the villa where the
two lovers spent their first night together. However, as it turns out, this is where Ioana and Alexandru spent their honeymoon
and all of their summer holidays... For the first time since his wife's death, Alexandru is finally ready to acknowledge openly
his own pain and devastation. Sebastian hugs him without a word. Tuesday morning. Sebastian comes to the boardwalk on
the edge of the sea to say goodbye. Alexandru smiles: in another life, they could have been best friends. But this is not the
case... Sebastian disappears from Alexandru's life as suddenly as he entered it.
DIRECTORS’ STATEMENT
PRODUCER’S CONTACT INFORMATION
ICON PRODUCTION
T: +40 21 31 11 367
E: [email protected]
T: +4021 314 8025
W: www.kinosseur.ro
This is the story of an impossible love and the story of an unlikely friendship between two men who, under normal
circumstances, might have been best friends, but have been pitted by fate against one another. This is a film about people,
about love, about relationships. It addresses those who love and who will love, those who cherish love and those who look
at love with contempt. This is a film about regret and sadness, but treated in a careful and subtle key, neither forced nor aggressive. It will be a film shot in vivid colors that will take us back to the 40s Technicolor, a film set in a particular universe,
present-day Bucharest, but an idealist and intellectual Bucharest, filtered through a classi/ retro prism supported by the
music of the 60s-80s period. It will be a film shot in widescreen Cinemascope, in order to capture the extremely particular
space where the two main characters, Alexandru and Sebastian, coexist and to emphasize their solitude. It will be a film
whose strength will be divided between the delicacy of the images, the importance of the lines and the two main
performances. Given that much of the first half of the script is set in an old house (converted by Alexandru into a museum of
memories), the house becomes the third main character of the story and, by extension, sound design and scenography will
play a crucial role in determining the general atmosphere of the film. The space of the house will be large, wide, never
cramped – Alexandru chooses not to leave the house because that's where he feels safe and comfortable. The story will be
supported by an original score and a soundtrack consisting of pre-existing songs. The original music will be very subtle,
minimal – only a few instruments – and repetitive (some themes will be resumed from time to time). The songs have two
functions: sometimes they will complement the action but, mostly, they will comment on it. Given the tone and the spirit of
the film, there can be no music newer than the late 80s. It will be a film that will not be afraid to ask the viewers something
that they haven't been asked for a long time: to be touched by it. It will be a movie that dares to ask the audience to laugh
and cry, sometimes in the same scene. It will be a sad movie, but not a desperate one; it will be a funny movie, but not a
happy one. It will be a film that people watch and watch again with pleasure – cinematographically speaking, it will be as
if Aki Kaurismäki directed a script by Pedro Almodovar. Musically speaking – and to paraphrase Leonard Cohen – it will be a
film "to laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again".
ICON PRODUCTION
ICON PRODUCTION is one of the first Romanian independent film production companies, established in 1994.
KINOSSEUR PRODUCTIONS is a Bucharest-based production company founded by Andrei Cretulescu and Codruta
Cretulescu in July 2011.
14
Crossroads Projects
DIRECTOR’S FILMOGRAPHY
DIRECTOR’S PROFILE
Seven Months Later, short, 2015 (in post-production)
A former film critic, Andrei Crețulescu produced for HBO Romania
the first season of In Deriva (remake of In Treatment) and nine
original documentaries. In 2011 he launched Kinosseur Productions.
After producing the feature film Killing Time (by Florin Piersic Jr.),
Andrei wrote and directed Bad Penny and Kowalski, the former
winning the Best Short award at the Zagreb IFF, 2014 and the
Best Director and Best Actor (Andi Vasluianu) awards at the Lille
European FF, 2015. His third short, Ramona, won the Canal+ Award
at La Semaine de la Critique at the Cannes FF and the Best Short
Award (ex-aequo) at the Transilvania IFF. Andrei has just finished
his fourth short film, Seven Months Later, and he is currently prepping his first feature, Charlton Heston.
Ramona, short, 2015
Cannes FF - Semaine de la Critique–Canal+ Award
Transilvania IFF, Romania–Best Short Award
Vila do Conde, Portugal–Cine TV e Series Distribution Award
New York Film Festival–Showcase
Chicago IFF–International Competition
Thessaloniki IFF–Balkan Survey
Kowalski, short, 2014
Zagreb Film Festival–The Golden Pram for Best Short
Odessa IFF–Digital Edition–Second Place
Lille Short IFF–Best Director and Best Actor Awards
Transilvania IFF–Competition
Warsaw IFF–Short Film Competition
Luxor Egyptian and European FF–Short Film Competition
Bad Penny, short, 2013
Next IFF
Cannes FF–Short Film Corner
Grossmann Fantastic Film Festival–Short Film Competition
Lund International Fantastic Film Festival–
Fantastic Short Competition
Fantasy FilmFest–Get Shorty
PRODUCER’S FILMOGRAPHY
ICON PRODUCTION
Horsepower, short, 2013, by Daniel Sandu
Film Festival Cottbus, 2014–Best Short Film
Quod Erat Demonstrandum, 2013, by Andrei Gruzsniczki
Rome IFF–Special Jury Prize
Goeast Film Festival
Arras Film Festival–Special Mention of the Jury for
Production Design
Karlovy Vary IFF
The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceaușescu, doc, 2010, by Andrei
Ujică
Exam, 2003, by Titus Muntean - 2003
PRODUCER’S PROFILE
ICON PRODUCTION
One of Romania’s leading production companies, Icon Production
– led by Velvet Moraru – has a remarkable portfolio of shorts, features and documentaries by interationally renowned directors such
as Andrei Ujica or Andrei Gruzsniczki.
Andrei Crețulescu
Present at Crossroads
Seven Months Later, short, 2015, by Andrei Crețulescu
(in post-production)
Ramona, short, 2015, by Andrei Crețulescu
Cannes Film Festival - Semaine de la Critique–Canal+ Award
Transilvania IFF, Romania–Best Short Award
Vila do Conde, Portugal–Cine TV e Series Distribution Award
New York Film Festival–Showcase
Chicago IFF–International Competition
Codruta Creţulescu
Kowalski, short, 2014, by Andrei Crețulescu
Zagreb Film Festival–The Golden Pram for Best Short
Odessa IFF - Digital Edition–Second Place
Lille Short IFF–Best Director and Best Actor Awards
Warsaw IFF–Short Film Competition
Luxor Egyptian and European FF–Short Film Competition
Bad Penny, short, 2013, by Andrei Crețulescu
Next IFF
Cannes FF–Short Film Corner
Grossmann Fantastic Film Festival–Short Film Competition
Lund International Fantastic Film Festival–Fantastic Short Competition
Fantasy FilmFest–Get Shorty
Killing Time, 2012, by Florin Piersic Jr.
Transilvania IFF–Romanian Competition
Warsaw IFF–Free Spirit Competition
Film Festival Cottbus-Spektrum
PRODUCER’S PROFILE KINOSSEUR
PRODUCTIONS
In only less than 4 years since she opened her own production
company, Kinosseur Productions, together with Andrei Crețulescu,
Codruta Crețulescu has managed to produce one feature and four
short films, adding up to an impressive number of festival selections
and awards.
The director’s previous film, Ramona, is available
at the Agora Film Market.
15
Crossroads Projects
The Death of Black Horses
Turkey
Produced by: FK FILM
Director: Ferit Karahan
Scriptwriters: Ferit Karahan, Gülistan Acet
Producers: Ferit Karahan, Gülistan Acet
Budget: 1,126,000 Euro
Secured Financing: 25%
Location: Turkey
Looking for: Co-producer,
Distributor and funding
SYNOPSIS
In 1914, in a Kurdish village administered by the Ottoman Empire, Mirza (20) is assisting the village doctor. His
family learns that their son Hamit is imprisoned in a distant city and has been wounded. Mirza and his brothers
Ahmet and Mesut set out on a journey to find Hamit. Along the way, as the brothers face the dangers of army
deserters, exiles and thieves, buried family secrets emerge. As they travel, the brothers reveal their dark sides to
each other.
When they reach the city, the brothers learn that Hamit has escaped from prison. Mirza is arrested and imprisoned
by Ottoman soldiers. The Ottoman Empire plans to exile the entire Armenian population. However, due to a
shortage of soldiers, prisoners are being enrolled to facilitate their transport. The only way for Mirza to get out
of prison is to become one of them. After much hesitation, Mirza joins the Ottoman army. While Mirza and the
soldiers are evacuating an Armenian village, they encounter rebels. After a long fight Mirza recognizes Hamit’s
dead body among the pile of corpses. Mirza learns that the great war has begun.
When World War I broke out, my grandfather was a bandit in the mountains of Kurdistan. I spent my childhood
listening to stories about my grandfather’s courage in battling Russian and Ottoman soldiers. What fascinated
me even more than the tales of my grandfather’s bravery, was the setting for these stories, in particular the
clues they contained about the animosity among the different peoples of Anatolia in a wartime atmosphere.
His own story was about members of a family who become enemies after an unfortunate incident. What seemed
like a minor detail at that time was the question of how and why the Kurds, Turks, and Armenians who had been
living in harmony in the Ottoman Empire suddenly became mortal enemies once the war began. What drove
me to make this film is the belief that the turmoil present in this part of the world is caused in no small part by
our failure to confront – and come to terms with – questions raised by what happened one hundred years ago.
FK FILM
FK Film is an independent Istanbul based production company which aims to support authentic storytelling,
producing thought-provoking feature, short and documentary films. Through our international co-productions,
we strive to reach audiences around the world. FK Film is headed by Ferit Karahan and Gülistan Acet. Previous
films include: The Fall from Heaven (2013), Give the Treasure (2014), Yusiv’s Dream (2011), Heaven of Watermelon
(2013).
FK FILM
T: +90 533 6633373
[email protected]
16
Crossroads Projects
DIRECTOR’S/PRODUCER’S FILMOGRAPHY
The Fall from Heaven, 2014
Antalya Golden Orange FF–Best Film
Ankara IFF–Best First Film Prize
Ferit Karahan was born in Mus, Turkey. He is a Kurdish
film director living in Istanbul. He started working as a first
assistant director on feature films.
His short films Before the Flood and Yusiv’s Dream have been
screened at numerous festivals and have won awards and
honorable mentions.
His feature debut, The Fall from Heaven, premiered at the
Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival and won Best Film. It
also won the Best First Film prize at the Ankara International
Film Festival, and was later screened at more than 15 festivals
and won more the 10 awards.
The Death of Black Horses has won 2 prizes from The
Jerusalem Film Lab. And it will be Ferit’s second feature
film.
Yusiv’s Dream, short, 2012
Before the Flood, short, 2010
Ferit Karahan
Gülistan Acet was born in 1985 in Batman. She finished
her Master's degree in Kurdish at the University of Mardin
Artuklu after studying film and theater. Her filmography
includes her own directed short films, The Sin (2015), Waiting
for Spring (2014) and Heaven of Watermelon (2013), as well
as Ferit Karahan’s The Fall from Heaven and the documentary
Hazne ver screened in Al Jazeera TV (2013).
The director’s previous film, The Fall from Heaven,
is available at the Agora Film Market.
Gülistan Acet
17
Crossroads Projects
The Disappeared
Turkey
Produced by:
GIYOTIN FILM/BEATRICE FILMS
Director: Ramin Matin
Scriptwriters: Hakan Biçakçi,
Ramin Matin
Producers: Emine Yildirim, Asli Erdem
Location: Turkey
Looking for: Co-development partners,
co-producers, sales agents
GIYOTIN FILM
T: +90 216 450 33 11
W: www.giyotinfilm.com
BEATRICE FILMS
T: +90 533 263 98 96
W: www.aslierdem.net
18
SYNOPSIS
The Disappeared is an irony ridden drama, set in a small traditional town in Turkey where sudden disappearances of men
create an atmosphere of panic and gradually lead to a satirical reversal of gender roles. One day, the men begin to lock
themselves in their homes out of fear, as their friends are disappearing one by one off the face of the earth. And the women
start handling their sad jobs that eventually changes the whole power dynamic in this small patriarchal town. The protagonist
Ahmet is the owner of a cheap sandwich/photocopy shop. His wife Dilek is a housewife who never leaves the house and is
being abused by him. As the mysterious vanishings continue, Ahmet decides to imprison himself at home. Slowly, he drifts
into an insane state of mind with blurred lines between his nightmares and reality, whereas his wife becomes the breadwinner
of the house. The thought of Dilek out there destroys Ahmet’s soul every day, as he shrivels away into invisibility.
In the first four months of 2015, over one hundred women were murdered by their husbands, fathers or brothers in Turkey. Within
the last decade, these statistics have increased tenfold without taking account the thousands of cases of abuse and torture. The
government tries to ignore this situation. The courts are pushed to condone it. Among the many problems plaguing this country, I
believe this is one of the most urgent, and this urgency has led me to think about and research the sources and reasons that create
this sort of mentality. Inequality is the main theme at the heart of this film. The strict patriarchal system creates tremendous
inequality towards women by keeping them locked up and hidden. Essentially they are erasing them from society and turning
them into servant ghosts. But it also creates inequality towards men, who are always expected to live up to primitive standards of
male behavior. In fact, the greatest paranoia of the men is not to appear like they’re losing or like they don’t have this machismo.
Despite their despicable actions, the men are not necessarily evil. They are merely mimicking what they have observed in their
fathers and grandfathers, never once questioning it. The film will have a slightly absurd tone, as I will emphasize the underlying
darkly comic aspects of each character and situation, thus laying bare the hapless stupidity of the male characters, even when they
commit despicable acts. I will shoot the film in black and white not only to create this fable-like atmosphere, but also to convey
this very two-dimensional, binary world. Also, the lack of color will underline the starkness of this world: bare walls, white light of
energy saving bulbs sticking out of ceilings, a feeling that the places have not been entirely lived in. During the first half of the
time, the lead female character will be partly hidden through the use of depth of field, lighting and composition, to convey how
men view women and their role in this society. During the second half, this will gradually change as the male character will slowly
fade and we start hearing the woman as she asserts herself. Again, as this is the point of view of the man, he will never go
completely silent but try to render himself as discreet as possible. Even though a more conventional approach to dealing with
these issues would be portraying the plight of the women, I feel that it would miss the real source of the problem. The source of the
problem being a strongly patriarchal system and self-righteous male mentality. Thus, I choose to use an Aristophanic device to
create a metaphorical fable in which I aim to expose various manifestations of this male mentality. This allows me to create a
situation where I can progressively dismantle this mentality, by forcing the men into the role they impose upon women and show
that they really are the weak ones, despite all their huffing and puffing.
GIYOTIN FILM
BEATRICE FILMS
GIYOTIN FILM is an Istanbul based independent production company founded in 2005. We
produce high-quality feature films, documentaries and short films, with a potential for international
co-production and circulation. Giyotin also provides production services to foreign companies
filming in Turkey. Our feature line-up is comprised of the no-budget social satire The Monsters’
Dinner(2011), which won several awards in the international and national festival circuit including
Montpellier, Transylvania, and Antalya, and The Impeccables(2013), a psychological thriller which
premiered at the Busan FF Flash Forward Competition, and received the prestigious Best Film
and Best Director awards at the Antalya Golden Orange FF National Competition. Our latest produced short fiction film, Mother Virgin No More (2015), competed in the Generation 14plus
section of the Berlin IFF. Giyotin’s documentary line-up includes six short films for the Discovery
Channel Europe (Balloon Tycoon, Oktaykan Power, TT Motors, Pimp My Moped, Istanbul Apocalypse
and Devrim, 2007-2010), the nationally acclaimed social documentary 3 Hours (2008) and
Sinasos an Oasis in the Desert (2006), funded by the European Commission to Turkey. We are currently in the pre-production phase of two feature films, one feature-length documentary and a
web-series. Our aim is to create and collaborate on projects that have soul, grit and vision.
Giyotin Film is a member of SE-YAP (Turkish Producers Guild).
BEATRICE FILMS is an independent production company based in Istanbul, founded by Asli Erdem
in the beginning of 2015. Asli has been producing films since 2009. She produced two feature
films in 2014: Melisa Önel’s debut film Seaburners (Berlinale, Forum) and Erol Mintaş’s awardwinning first feature Song of My Mother (Sarajevo FF, Best Film). Mintaş’s film was selected in over
30 film festivals and received 8 international and 7 national awards, and was distributed in 6 territories. She also worked as an Associate Producer on two features of acclaimed directors such as
Semih Kaplanoğlu’s new film Grain, and provided service production to foreign films. Beatrice
Films is currently developing Dağhan Celayir’s debut feature Ghetto Driftersabout illegal car racers
supported by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and selected by Istanbul FF Meetings on the Bridge
Script Workshop. The company is co-developing the third feature by Ramin Matin, The Disappeared
with Emine Yildirim, Giyotin Film. Beatrice Films seeks and dedicates its time to young talents,
original stories, art-house sensibilities.
Crossroads Projects
Siren’s Call (in pre-production)
Ramin was born in 1977. He completed his Bachelor’s degree in Communication Arts, Loyola Marymount University USA. He then completed his
Master’s degree from the Istanbul Bilgi University Film Department. In
2005 he co-founded Giyotin Films. His first feature, The Monsters’ Dinner
(2011), won awards at the Antalya Golden Orange, Ankara and Montpellier
FF, and has been screened at the No Limit section of the Transilvania FF.
With the his debut film, Ramin received the Most Promising Director
Award and National Critics Award at the Ankara FF. His second film The
Impeccables (2013) premiered at the Busan FF and moved on to receive
the prestigious Best Film and Best Director Awards at the Antalya Golden
Orange Film Festival. It was also selected for the Works in Progress section
at the 2012 Thessaloniki FF. The film extensively traveled the festival
circuit, including Montpellier, Yerevan Golden Apricot, Romanian, Beijing
and Tetouan. He is currently working on two feature film projects, one of
which is Siren’s Call and the other The Disappeared, which he is co-writing
with acclaimed writer Hakan Bıçakçı.
The Impeccables, 2013
Busan FF–Flash Forward Competition
Antalya Golden Orange FF–Best Film and Best Director
Romanian IFF–Best Film
Montpellier FF–Official Competition
The Monsters' Dinner, 2011
Antalya Golden Orange–Special Jury Prize
Ankara IFF–Most Promising Director and National Critics Award
Transilvania IFF
Emine Yildirim
Siren’s Call, by Ramin Matin (in pre-production)
Mother Virgin No More, short, 2015, by Derya Durmaz
Berlin FF–Generation 14plus
Ziazan, short, 2014, by Derya Durmaz
Cannes Short Showcase–Audience Award Diversity
The Impeccables, 2013, by Ramin Matin
Busan FF–Flash Forward Competition
Antalya Golden Orange FF–Best Film and Best Director
Romania IFF–Best Film
Montpellier FF–Official Competititon
The Monsters' Dinner, 2011, by Ramin Matin
Antalya Golden Orange–Special Jury Prize
Ankara IFF–Most Promising Director and National Critics Award
Transilvania IFF
3 Hours, doc, 2008, by Can Candan
International Bodrum Film Fest
Asli Erdem
Grain, by Semih Kaplanoğlu, ass. producer (in post-production)
Song Of My Mother, 2014, by Erol Mintaş
Sarajevo FF–Best Film and Best Actor
Nantes 3 Continents FF–Silver Balloon and Audience Award
Lecce FF–Best Film
Mons Int. Love FF–Jury Prize and Best Actor
Duhok IFF–Best Actor
Antalya Golden Orange FF–Best Debut Film,
Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Music
Malatya Golden Apricot FF–Special Jury Award,
Best Script, Film Critics’ Award
Seaburners, 2014, by Melisa Önel
Berlin Film Festival–Forum
Jeonju Film Festival
Snow, short, 2010, by Erol Mintaş
Antalya Golden Orange–Best Short
Timishort F–Best Director
!f Istanbul FF–Audience Award
Boston Turkish FF–Special Mention
Ramin Matin
Emine Yildirim After completing her undergraduate degree in Business
Administration at METU, she obtained her MA in Film Studies at Istanbul
Bilgi University. In 2005, she co-founded Giyotin Film and started producing short films and internationally co-produced documentaries.
Among her productions are six short documentaries for Discovery, Channel Europe, a feature- length documentary funded by the EU Commission
to Turkey and a Can Candan’s national award-winning docu 3 Hours
(2008). Her first feature-length fiction film, The Monsters’ Dinner (2011),
directed by Ramin Matin, won multiple awards nationally and internationally. She is also the writer/producer of Matin's second feature, The
Impeccables (2013), which premiered at the Busan FF and received the
Best Film and Director Awards at the Antalya Golden Orange FF. She
also produced Derya Durmaz’s short films Ziazan (2014), which won
the Audience Award Diversity at the Cannes Short Showcase, and Gri
Bölge (2015), which competed at the Berlinale Generation 14plus. She
is currently in pre-production of her EAVE project Siren’s Call. Emine
also works as a cinema journalist; she first began writing in 2005 for
Time Out Istanbul English, and currently writes for the English Daily Today’s Zaman. She has participated in Training Programs such as the
2006 Euromed Audiovisual II Mediterranean Films Crossing Borders,
the 2007 IDFA Academy, the 2008 IFFR FIPRESCI Young Critics Trainee
Program and the 2013 Cannes Producers Network. She is an 2014 EAVE
graduate.
Asli Erdem, was born in Istanbul, Turkey. She produced with Romania
the Golden Orange-winning short film Snow, directed by Erol Mintaş.
She was an Associate Producer on the Eurimages-supported feature
film In Flames that was a grossing film in Turkey with over 100,000
viewers and was released in seven European countries. In 2014, she
produced a debut film by Melisa Önel: Seaburners (Berlinale, Forum).
In the same year, she produced Erol Mintaş’s award-winning first feature
Song of My Mother (Sarajevo FF, Best Film). Recently, she was an Associate
Producer on the acclaimed director Semih Kaplanoğlu’s new feature
Grain, that is currently in post-production. She is currently working on
the development of Dağhan Celayir’s debut feature Ghetto Drifters
(Meetings on the Bridge 2015), and experienced Ramin Matin’s fourth
feature The Disappeared. Asli joined the Training Programs 2015 EP2C
Post-Production Workshop and 2015 Cannes Producers Network. She
is a graduate of the 2014 EAVE European Producers Workshop and is a
member of the New Cinema Movement (Yeni Sinema Hareketi).
Emine Yildirim
Asli Erdem
The director’s previous film The Impeccables
19
Crossroads Projects
Elefsina
Greece
Produced by: VIEW MASTER FILMS S.A.
Director: Alexandros Skouras
Scriptwriter: Alexandros Skouras
Producer: George Kyriakos
Location: Elefsina, Salamina
(suburbs of Athens)
Looking for: Co-Producer,
International Sales
SYNOPSIS
Elefsina consists of three overlapping stories, each of which takes place in a prior plot-period in relation to the
previous one. PORT: Andreas has passively accepted the relationship of his wife Stella with Elias. Not until after the
death of his mother, does he realize that he has been left on his own and he decides to keep Stella close at all costs,
even going so far as to assassinate Elias. ADVENT: After 10 years of self-exile, Elias returns to Elefsina to look for his
missing brother, Makis, despite their poor relations. He manages to become accepted by his social environment and
gradually usurps everything he had been deprived for so many years, like the house where he grew up, his brother’s
family and his former lover Stella. When the possible return of Makis seems to threaten what he has conquered, his
true nature emerges and he ends up alone once again. EXODUS: Makis lives the routine of a factory worker. With the
birth of his son, he needs to change direction in his life and that’s why he tries to become a writer. As soon as his
high expectations collapse, he loses control and becomes harmful to those around him. He decides to leave Elefsina,
as his older brother had done some years ago, and take refuge in Salamis. There, he presents himself as a writer, appropriating his brother’s identity and intellectual work. Gradually, the '”borrowed” dream weakens and Makis starts
searching for his true identity. He finally returns back to Elefsina, hoping for a new beginning.
VIEW MASTER FILMS S.A.
T: +30 210 6411992
W: www.viewmasterfilm.gr
Elefsina consists of three stories, which can, on the one hand, stand alone in the sense that every story has a central
character facing a separate “major dramatic question”, and additionally every story has a classical “three act” structure.
On the other hand, they can be considered as interrelated in the sense that the lives of the three characters influence
each other, whereas at the same time all three stories take place in a specific period, in a specific place. The main characteristic of the script development structure is that the second and third story take place in a prior time-period in
relation to the previous one. In this way, first of all, the narration focuses on the causes of events, inviting the viewer
to create expectations in terms of how things have gotten to a certain point. From a structural aspect, the first and
second story leave a key question unanswered, which functions as a sub-plot in the story that follows. A connection
among the autonomous stories and an easier transition to the next story is thus achieved, which is necessary for
maintaining the viewer’s interest up to a point until the major dramatic questions of each story are fully developed.
One of the key creative choices is that each story is totally character-centered, in the sense that in every scene the
main character is in the spotlight. This itself generates a great intensity and allows for insight into the inner conflict of
each main character. The character-centered approach of each story is enhanced by the absence of linear temporality
which is imposed through the process of editing. With the absence of "passing" scenes and the degradation of linearity,
any temporal coincidence between the scenes of each story is avoided. The time each action occurs in every story is
linear, but not specific, with time intervals of transition from one scene to another not to be obvious. At the same
time, no scene takes place in another story, seen from a different perspective. Through this pattern, attention is shifted
to the inner world of the main characters. The city of Elefsina is a key element of the script and our goal is to present
the contradictory features of the city, which attempt to balance between its mesmerizing and its industrial character,
between the ancient monuments and the ship cemeteries. In all three stories, the continuously glowing flame on top
of the smokestack of the refineries constitutes a reference point. It works more on a symbolic level, not as a flame that
illuminates the surrounding space, but burns endlessly as there is no way out. The main characteristic of the three
central characters is their weakness to cope with the guilt of the past, and as a consequence they fail to coexist with
their social environment and they are isolated.
VIEW MASTER FILMS S.A.
VIEW MASTER FILMS, located in Athens, is an independent film production company established in 2010. V.M.F.
is now one of the leading production companies in Greece. Its goal is to produce and co-produce content for the
cinema and TV using the most up-to-date technology and creative skills available today. The company specialises
in feature film production, documentaries and providing services for film companies/public events. V.M.F has
seen success through dedication and an unrivalled determination to leave a mark in the entertainment industry.
20
Crossroads Projects
Kyanerythres, short doc, 2014
Born in Athens in 1981. He studied Economy, Cultural Studies
and Philosophy of Science. He has been teaching filmmaking
since 2004 at the Cultural Club of the University of Athens.
He started writing scripts while still a teenager and he has
won several prizes for his work. His official film debut with
the title Gran Partita participated in the Short Film Festival
in Drama in 2011 and won the prize of best digital film. It
then screened at several festivals, where it was also distinguished. In 2012, his short film 807 was selected by the
Palm Springs International Film Festival and in 2013 his
film Trains won the best picture prize at the Love in Athens
Film Festival. He is currently writing his first feature film
script and working as a director in TV.
Close Embrace, short, 2013
Trains, short, 2013
Love in Athens Film Festival–Best Film Award
Abies, short, 2012
807, short, 2012
Gran Partita, short, 2011
Drama International Short Film Festival–Award for
Best Digital Film
One Breath (Ein Atem), 2015, by Christian Zubert
Toronto FF, Contemporary World Cinema
George Kyriakos established View Master Films S.A. in
2010. He has extensive experience in the film industry,
working as a production manager for cinema and television.
His goal is to focus on innovative projects with a fresh approach. Between 2014-2015 he produced various feature
films, among which Notias by T. Boulmetis, Spring Awakening
by C. Giannaris and Lovestruck by Th. Atheridis, he entered
into two co-production schemes (Ein Atem by Christian Zubert / Senator Films and Wednesday 04.45 by Alexis Alexiou
/ Twenty Twenty Vision) and provided services for the American feature film Swing Away by M. Nickles and the German
Television film The Greek.
Wednesday 04.45, 2015, by Alexia Alexiou
Tribeca FF
Jeonju IFF
Karlovy Vary IFF–East of the West
London FF
Thessaloniki IFF
Notias, 2015 by Tasos Boulmetis (in post-production)
Spring Awakening, 2015, by Constantine Giannaris
Thessaloniki IFF
Lovestruck, 2014, by Thodoris Atheridis
Hellenic Film Academy, Audience Award
Alexandros Skouras
Effie Skrobola, following her cinema studies in Canada
(Université de Montréal, Quebec), she started working as
an Associate Producer in the film industry in 2005 for producer Costas Lambropoulos. She is currently also overseeing
the development of all projects for View Master Films production house. She has completed the Maia Workshop training program and the Sources 2 Projects and Process-Training
the Mentors workshop.
The director’s previous films, Gran Partita, 807, Abies
and Trains, are available in the Agora Film Market.
Effie Skrobola
21
Crossroads Projects
I Will Cross Tomorrow
Greece/France
Produced by: PAN ENTERTAINMENT/
CINÉ SUD PROMOTIONS
Director: Sepideh Farsi
Scriptwriters: Sepideh Farsi,
Youla Boudali
Producer: Panos Karabinis,
Thierry Lenouvel
Location: Athens, Lesvos Ιsland
Looking for: European and
Turkish partners
SYNOPSIS
On a warm summer’s night, 40-year-old divorcee Maria takes a boat to the island of Lesvos, near the Turkish Coast. She
leaves behind in Athens her 15-year-old daughter, Daphne, and her elderly mother, taking with her only a suitcase and a
load of debts. That same night, an inflatable boat sets out from the Turkish coast. It contains 30 immigrants, among them
Yussof, a 25-year-old young man from Syria. He is escaping a war that has left him with blood on his hands.
Yussof is one of the first immigrants to draw Maria’s attention in the camp where she works. They happen to meet again on
the ship to Piraeus. Having lost all hope, the young Syrian prepares to jump into the sea when Maria stops him. That night,
on the ferryboat, their fates are joined together in a desperate act of love. Maria offers to accommodate Yussof for a couple
of days. The warmth of family life does him much good, and Maria is happy to have a man in her home again. But the illusion
doesn’t last long. Maria is forced to undertake one last job with a smuggler in order to pay off her debts, while at the same
time she arranges Yussof’s passage to Germany. They spend one last night together on Lycabettus hill. It is a moment out of
place. In the morning, they go their separate ways. Yussof must meet his destiny, while Maria has to take the ferry back to
Lesvos, to meet hers.
PAN ENTERTAINMENT
T: +30 210 6985050
[email protected]
W: www.pan.com.gr
CINE-SUD PROMOTION
T: +33144545477
W: www.cinesudpromotion.com
22
We live in a world where one single death is enough to destroy an entire existence, while the loss of thousands becomes
simply a headline. We live in a world where war and its casualties end up being ordinary, at the same time as other countries,
like Greece, give another kind of battle.
No matter which side of the border one is located on, the needs, the expectations and the dilemmas people experience are
exactly the same. The conflicts in the Middle East and in Africa are so close to Europe, both geographically and on a human
scale, that they are considered European problems. The consequences of globalization are such that conflicts have become
an exportable product and the morals that Europe represents – based on bing bang theories and unrealities – lose their
meaning when the mainland shuts her eyes to the outside world!
Greece is a crossroads between East and West, a meeting point for very different people. Similarly, Lesvos has a long history
of different population turnouts, because of the island’s proximity to the Turkish Coast.
Maria comes from a country which is supposed to be in peacetime, while Yussof comes from a war zone somewhere in the
Middle East. At first sight, their situations seem to be opposed, but underneath they face the same guilt and foster the same
anticipation. Remorse, solitude, desperation and need for communication. The film raises questions over the very idea of
“Europe” and “borders”. Why are many people willing to risk their life to arrive to Europe, passing through Greece, a country
which is facing enormous difficulties, living essentially an undeclared war? Is this another challenge to the European and
Greek ideal? As for the main characters of the movie, even if they come from completely different realities, at the same time
they are accurate representatives. Yussof stands for the momentum of youth and fights tooth and nail for life.
He is filled with dreams and desires, but at the same time he is tormented by guilt.
On the opposite site, Maria, symbolizes the despair of the Greek population, and the fact that she is a mother, and specifically
a cop, loaded with debts and family responsibilities, makes things even harder. That is a typical example of a trial run of
what Greek people are encountering now.
Through her acquaintance with Yussof, Maria transforms from an overwhelmed woman, without a trace of sympathy for
others, into a woman who can understand the trauma of others and see life with new eyes.
PAN ENTERTAINMENT
CINE-SUD PROMOTION
PAN ENTERTAINMENT was founded in June 1999. It is considered one of the largest film production companies in Greece. With a significant number of films to its credit, it specializes in
all areas of audiovisual production. It develops and produces feature films and TV shows, and
via its new branches, Pan Production and Liberty company, it produces commercials for television and organizes promotional events. Co-founder and provider of Digi8 (www.digi8.eu),
Pan Entertainment distributes electronically digitized audiovisual material.
Cine-Sud Promotion was launched in 1993 as a company designed to promote art house
films (Rachid Bouchareb, Wang Chao, Guillermo Del Toro, Raymond Depardon, Djibril Diop
Mambety, Julio Medem, Jafar Panahi, Manuel Poirier, Arturo Ripstein, Paulo Rocha, Carlos
Saura, Paolo & Vittorio Taviani, and Jean-Philippe Toussaint among others). It developed a
production arm in 2001, with 30 films produced or co-produced till now and more than 150
international awards. Editorial line is quality, without frontiers, constraints of form, style or
genre, researching emerging talents and also supporting established directors with projects
delivering a singular and important message on humanity and our society under a strong
cinematic form. Moreover, creation and organization of film festivals and events (Cinemed/Montpellier till 1995, Script Development Fund/Amiens Film Festival since 1996, Cinema in Motion/San
Sebastian till 2012 and then Final Cut in Venice since 2013).
Crossroads Projects
Despo, Labros, Spyridoula & Papandreou, doc,
(in post-production)
Born in Tehran, Sepideh Farsi moved to Paris to study Mathematics, but soon drifted towards film. After some shorts,
her documentary Homi Sethna, Filmmaker won several
awards. Followed by Harat and Tehran Without Permission,
which both premiered in Locarno. Her first two features,
Dreams of Dust and The Gaze, premiered in Rotterdam. She
then directed The House Under the Water, followed by Red
Rose, which premiered at the TIFF 2014 and has just finished
a new documentary: Despo, Labros, Spyridoula & Papandreou.
Red Rose, 2014
Toronto FF
Athens IFF
The House Under the Water, 2010
Dubai IFF
Moscow IFF
Tehran Without Permission, doc, 2009
Locarno IFF
Hamburg IFF
Dubai IFF
Sepideh Farsi
The Gaze, 2006
IFF Rotterdam
Paris Cinema
Festival de Cinema Politic-Spain
as executive producer
Panos Karabinis
Red Rose, 2014, by Sepideh Farsi
Toronto FF
Athens IFF
All Saints, 2011, by Sotiris Goritsas
Mar del Plada IFF
Hellenic Film Academy–3 awards
Thierry Lenouvel
Land and Shade, 2015, by Cesar Acevedo
Cannes FF 2015–Semaine de la Critique, Camera d’or
Flapping in the Middle of Nowhere, 2015,
by Nguyen Hoang Diep
Venice FF2014–FEDEORA Prize
Red Rose, 2014, by Sepideh Farsi
Toronto FF
Athens IFF
Qissa, 2013, by Anup Singh
Toronto FF–NETPAC award
IFF Rotterdam–Audience Award
Moolaade, 2004, by Sembene Ousmane
Cannes FF–Un Certain Regard, Grand Prix
Best Foreign Film/American Critics Awards
Panos Karabinis is a senior producer and one of the cofounders of Pan Entertainment. He started producing and
directing documentaries in France in the mid-80s and has
been involved in many outstanding Greek productions since
he co-founded Pan Entertainment in 2000. After a successful
collaboration with Sepideh Farsi on Red Rose, also co-produced with Cine Sud Promotions (Thierry Lenouvel), the
same team is back on this new project.
Thierry Lenouvel
Thierry has a BA in Modern Literature and Cinema. He is
the co-founder of Cinemed Film Festival, Montpellier. In the
80s he was a distributor with Les Films du Sémaphore of
Pedro Almodovar, Youssef Chahine, Benoît Jacquot, Gaston
Kaboré, Emir Kusturica, John Sayles, Shinji Somai, etc. In
the 90s he worked as independent press agent for more
than 150 films. He is the founder of the Script Development
Fund/Amiens International Film Festival and Final Cut in
Venice. He is a member of EFA (European Film Academy)
and SPI (Syndicate of Independent film Producers). CINÉSUD PROMOTION, is a company designed to promote art
house films, which starts production in 2001 (see CV of the
company).
The director’s previous film, Red Rose,
Panos Karabinis
Thierry Lenouvel
23
Crossroads Projects
Interrogation
Turkey
Produced by:
FILMFABRIK FILM AND TELEVISION
Director: Hacı Orman
Scriptwriter: Hacı Orman
Producer: Serkan Acar
Location: Istanbul
Looking for: Co producer
SYNOPSIS
Nihat (32) is an intellectual political radical who lives in Istanbul with his partner and young daughter. Because of his
father’s opposition to the regime, Sari (26) fled Bulgaria and took refuge in Turkey, where he is now a police spy and late
joiner of Nihat’s circle. One sunny winter’s day, Nihat is abducted on his way to a clandestine meeting and taken to an
undercover interrogation centre. His interrogators believe that Nihat has valuable information on the organization’s illegal
activities. When he adamantly denies these claims, Nihat is confronted with Sari. The moment Nihat and Sari come face to
face, the direction of the interrogation changes. Questions are mixed up with more questions, answers with more answers
and secrets with more secrets. The duel of words between the two suddenly estranged and hostile old friends becomes a political-philosophical tug-of-war, before lapsing increasingly into a battle of personalities. It becomes unclear who is
interrogating whom. At a critical stage of the interrogation, Sari begins to suspect that his father actually has the information
wanted from Nihat and he loses control. In this obscure and sinister world, where speaking is a need and keeping silent an
art, even the past has changed and been replaced by a new version. While Nihat heads silently and deeply towards his
death, Sari encounters traces of his own fate in Nihat’s demise.
Interrogation draws two life stories from the dark labyrinths of power and examines the vengeful showdown between two
young men, Nihat and Sari, former friends who have become strangers. The film is a realistic social drama combining the
intrigue of a thriller with elements of political tension. In following the dramatic change experienced by Sari in particular,
the narrative seeks to portray the confused and frightening states involved in treading the fine line between “executioner”
and “victim”. The focus lies on the constant turmoil of human nature, on the battle between truth and lies, memory and
imagination, life and death, betrayal and compassion, fear and courage. Nihat becomes a mirror to Sari’s double personality,
politics a mirror to the various guises of people dependent on the mechanisms of subordination, power a mirror to everyday
forms of violence, and death a mirror to individual aspects of life. To allow the audience to judge the two main characters
impartially, the story of Interrogation is told alternately through the eyes and ears of Nihat and Sari; the dramatic framework
is therefore limited to what they see, hear and remember. At the same time, the narrative presents snatches of the past
through the mental flashbacks that both characters periodically have. Besides linking different times and places, this device
serves to expose the subjectivity and relativity of two different minds as they recall a shared past in very specific and
individual ways, and to highlight the startling illusions associated with human memory. The winter setting of the film
brings a number of visual opportunities (snow and fog among them), which facilitate producing variations of meaning. The
film music is directly linked to the story content through a Walkman. Physical violence is shown as little as possible in the
story; in its place metaphors are favoured which demonstrate the human potential for violence buried deep down inside.
Likewise, much of the imagery evokes the invisible power of silence, and words function to obscure the speaker’s thoughts
as much as to elucidate them. With the characters, every effort is made to shed light on the invisible aspects of their
personalities and to capture the changes occurring in their visible exterior. The dialogue and camera compositions will seek
to emphasize that the spoken word is at least as meaningful as the unspoken, and equally that what is shown carries as
much weight as what isn’t.
T: +90 212 252 7713
W: www.filmfabrik.net
24
Founded with the mission of telling global stories to a broad audience, Filmfabrik has evolved into a multi-platform media
production and distribution company with offices throughout Europe. For over twenty years, the hallmarks of Filmfabrik's
documentaries and feature films have been innovation and a focus on social themes. Long-standing co-operations with
broadcasters are not limited to the German market. For this reason, and thanks to advanced financial models, international
cinema and TV productions can be placed within the global film market. Through a collaboration between Filmfabrik
Cologne and Filmfabrik Istanbul in 2009, television movies, television series and feature films are being produced for the
Turkish-speaking world as well as for the international market. The focus of Filmfabrik stories are man and his reality.
Nothing is more exciting, more inspirational or dramatic than life itself and what could be more exhilarating than seeing it
on screen? Rewarded with numerous national and international awards, Filmfabrik stands for great stories of greater men.
Crossroads Projects
Homo Politicus, 2014
For ten years after he quit his studies at the university, he
served as chairman of the executive board of BEKSAV (Science Education Aesthetic Culture Art Research Foundation)
and chief editor of Sanat and Hayat (Art and Life) Magazine,
at the same time. Twice he was arrested, put in and got out
of jail for political reasons. Together with Ragip Zarakolu,
he contributed to the preparation of the books Turks and
Armenians between Ararat and Sirat, Exile Folk Songs, Testimonies – Armenian Genocide in its 90th Anniversary, Defences
of the Intellectuals published as supplements of Sanat and
Hayat magazine. His short-length film Homo Politicus is
about the Armenian Genocide which occurred in 1915.
Istanbul, 2010, by Ferenc Török
Dublin Film Festival
Serkan Acar was born in Artvin, in a small town near the
Georgian border. He started to study Pyschology at İstanbul
University in 1992. At the university he wrote film reviews
and interviews for cinema magazines. In 1998 he started
to work in cinema and TV productions as an assistant director
and production staff. In 2004 he made the documentray
film Bread which was about a strike. This documentary was
screened in many countries. In 2007 he founded Kuzey Film
and produced Autumn which was awarded in many festivals.
In 2011 he made his first debut Love and Revolution. This
film was awarded at the Adana and Ankara film festival
and screened at international film festivals (Karlovy Vary,
Goa, Nurnberg). In 2013 he made Our Hodja, a political
comedy for both the Turkish and the European market, and
sold 130,000 tickets in Turkey and 15,000 tickets in Europe.
Sonbahar/Autumn, 2008, by Özcan Alper
Locarno IFF–C.I.C.A.E. Award
Ankara IFF–Best Cinematography Award, Best Director,
Best Editing, Best Film, Best Supporting Actress
Yerevan IFF–FIPRESCI Prize, Jury Special Prize
San Francisco IFF
Los Angeles FF
Paris Cinéma
Hacı Orman
Serkan Acar
The director’s previous film, Homo Politicus,
is available at the Agora Film Market
25
Crossroads Projects
The Land of No One
Greece
Produced by:
PLAYS2PLACE PRODUCTIONS
Directors: Aran Hughes,
Christina Koutsospyrou
Scriptwriters: Aran Hughes,
Producer: Vasilis Chrysanthopoulos
Location: Strofades Island, Greece
Looking for: Financiers, International
co-producers, World Sales Agents,
Distributors
SYNOPSIS
On the far-flung island of Strofades, way out in the Ionian Sea, five Orthodox monks live a life of spiritual devotion in a
crumbling monastery originally built for a hundred or more. No one else lives on the island. No boats ever pass in the winter.
In fact nobody else has set foot there for years. It is just them, the wind, the rain and the occasional passing bird. In the past
few months their two meals a day have become one. They can no longer catch fish due to an infestation of jellyfish and the
flooded fields yield nothing in the grim winter months. They have been surviving on a diet of bread and not much soup and
are beginning to suffer. One evening, sitting at the table for another meager meal, Father Savvas speaks out. He tells them
there is nothing and if they don’t make plans they will starve. The abbot, Elder Makari, listens carefully to every word and
smiles. He gently reminds him they are provided for by God and not to worry. As the days progress the situation gets worse.
The men are weak and malnourished. They can hardly concentrate on their prayer. A storm sets in and soon brings further
disaster. Father Lazarus, the cook, finds the storeroom flooded and the last of their flour wasted. Now there is nothing left.
Alexios, the young novice, is terrified. Arsenios, the mad old monk, begins to crack. The next, freezing cold days bring only
more disaster. Alexios falls sick. He has become too weak to continue and slowly fades and perishes. The monks can do
nothing to save him. Elder Makari is destroyed but he must continue. Lazarus, broken and beaten, will face another day.
Arsenios finally loses himself. Savvas sets out to sea.
When a monk dons the black robe he does so to signify his death to the world. He abandons earthly pleasures and vows to
wed himself to Christ in preparation for the ultimate struggle to divinity. He shall no longer fear death because he has been
reborn. His only goal is to transcend this world of matter and embrace the Holy Spirit. Yet what of this life, is the bond ever
truly broken? Can the power of faith overcome the nature of reality? This is what we set out to explore in The Land of No One.
Our story, firmly set in this world of physical isolation and spiritual belief, centers around a secluded monastic brotherhood
of five monks living on a small island. Completely cut off from the outside world and unable to provide food for themselves
any longer, they are forced to confront the forces of nature and their struggle for earthly survival. Within the characters we
wanted to depict five different stories. In one sense all five are archetypes of monks; steadfast in their spiritual beliefs yet in
another they are all devastatingly human, fallible, and vulnerable. The film is set on the remote island of Strofades where
for hundreds of years men of faith have occupied the monastery built on its rocky shores. In ancient Greece it was known as
the home of the Harpies, vicious winds who lived beyond. So distant from anywhere it was after the point of turning back.
We chose this location because we wanted to place our characters in an environment of extremes, where the very isolation
they strive for becomes their greatest nemesis and sets the stage for a battle between their salvation and their downfall. The
very spirit of Orthodox Christianity lies in its preservation of its original doctrine and this was something we sought to reflect
in the setting. We have decided not to confine the narrative to any specific era or historical period because ultimately its
themes are timeless. And yet somehow timely. We believe that buried behind its layers of interpretation the film explores
something pertinent for the world we live in, especially the Europe of today. Coming from a background in ethnographic
documentary, it is our intention with this film to introduce this mode of expression - observational, naturalistic and intuitive
- into a fictional form. Comprising of long, drawn out takes we envisage creating an atmosphere and experience that allows
the viewer to be placed into the characters struggles and partake in their life of contemplation through the active process of
contemplation itself. Thus merging its content into its form and becoming something that engages directly with the viewer
through the language of cinema. The Land of No One is a meditative thriller that sets out to open a discussion rather than didactically preach its message. It bears no grudge. All it ultimately wants is to understand a little more.
T: + 30 211 22 61 105
W: plays2place.com
26
PLAYS2PLACE PRODUCTIONS is a creative company specializing in the production of cross-media projects, films, theatre
performances and educational activities. It promotes cross-cultural exchange and collaboration, while its projects reflect
on current sociopolitical developments with the aim to stimulate discussion, awareness and civic engagement. PLAYS2PLACE
was founded in 2008 in Athens by the cultural manager and social anthropologist Martha Bouziouri and the producer
Vasilis Chrysanthopoulos.
Crossroads Projects
DIRECTORS’ FILMOGRAPHY
DIRECTORS’ PROFILE
To the Wolf, doc, 2012
Berlin FF–Forum
Toronto FF
Dokufest–Balkan Newcomer Award
Thessaloniki Documentary Festival–Images
of the 21st Century
Aran Hughes and Christina Koutsospyrou began working
together in 2010. Their debut feature To the Wolf premiered
at the Berlin Film Festival in 2013 and went on screen at
over 25 major international festivals including Toronto, Sao
Paulo and Vienna. It was awarded Best Newcomer at
Dokufest in Kosovo and Best Film at Syros in Greece. It was
also nominated for a Greek Academy award. To the Wolf
was hailed not only as a visionary and hauntingly beautiful
film by cinema critics but also as an important study into
Greece's rural and forgotten people by the national and international press. The film has also been the subject of numerous anthropological papers and provoked widespread
interest in ethnographic circles and has been purchased by
major universities throughout the world. The film secured
its Greek cinematic distribution with Strada Films and in
the U.S through the art-house platform Vyer Films. Reluctant
to be pigeonholed as purely ethno-documentarians the
writer-director duo are now developing their fictional debut,
a haunting story of a remote monastery in the throes of
crisis at the turn of the last century. Christina Koutsospyrou
was born in Athens in 1980 and Aran Hughes was born in
London in 1983. They both studied at The University of Arts
London. They currently live and work between London and
the island of Hydra in Greece.
Pride of Dover, short, 2010
No Destination, short, 2009
The Forest in Me, doc,
by Rebecca E. Marshall (in production)
Vasilis Chrysanthopoulos was born in 1983 in Athens. He is
co-founder and head producer of the Greek production company plays2place productions and a member of EAVE (European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs) and EDN (European Documentary Network). He also works as a news producer for
Associated Press Television Network. He started his career
as a producer for various companies in the film and television
industry, until he co-founded plays2place productions, for
which he has produced all its projects. His recent credits include Miss Violence (Silver Lion for Best Director and Coppa
Volpi for Best Actor in Venice IFF 2013).
Ark, by Aristotelis Marangos (in development)
Thessaloniki FF - Crossroads Co-production Forum – Initiative
Film Development Award
Miss Violence, by Alexandros Avranas, 2013
Venice FF 2013–Silver Lion for Best Director, Coppa Volpi
for Best Actor, Arca Cinema Giovanni Award for Best Film,
FEDEORA Prize for Best European Film
Stockholm IFF 2013–Best Script Award
Reykjavik IFF 2013–Special Mention of the Jury
Iceberg, short, by Kostas Gerampinis, 2012
Drama International Short FF–Tonia Marketaki Award
for Best Film with Social Context
Athens IFF–Award for Best Screenplay
International Short FF of Cyprus–International Special
Mention for Best Script
Aran Hughes
Vasilis Chrysanthopoulos
The directors’ previous film, To the Wolf,
Beatitudes, short, by Aristotelis Marangos, 2012
Locarno IFF–Academy Screenings
Leeds IFF–International Competition
Munich International Festival of Film Schools
27
Crossroads Projects
The Mistake
Romania
Produced by: MANDRAGORA
Director: Mircea Nestor
Scriptwriter: Mircea Nestor
Producer: Anca Puiu
Location: Bucharest, Romania
Looking for: Co-producers to
complete the financing plan,
World Sales, International Distribution
SYNOPSIS
Vali, a 14-year-old boy in his first year of high school, hits his father with a knife during a violent argument,
murdering him. Terrified by what happened, he goes on the run, crisscrossing the streets of Bucharest. The
shadow of guilt hangs heavy on him, fearing that any stranger on the street can read the horrible crime on his
face. Not knowing what to do, Vali reaches out to his mother, Gabi, with whom he has a difficult and unusual relationship. She broke all ties with Vali and his father years ago, branding their budding family a youthful mistake,
and is presently starting another one, in fact living a second life. But when he hears how his mother wants to
help, Vali is faced with an unexpected question – does he actually want her help or not?
For me, this story is about two things: a murder and a child growing up. Naturally, the things I want to do with
it stand in direct opposition with what I think are flaws of modern cinema. That’s why, regarding the murder, I
want to steer clear of the instinctive reaction that tells us that murderers are somehow not human like us,
something is inherently different about them; and that, by extension, murder is something other than a deed
that people can commit under certain circumstances. I am not interested in sensationalizing or glorifying this
act. It is precisely banality that makes it horrific; something that I think is sadly under-represented in many
films. Actually, I find that many films don’t even seek to discuss the act or its consequences; they just use murder
as a storytelling shortcut, a means of moving the story along from A to B.
In regards to the child growing up, I reject the ready-made formulas that we usually come across. My character
is not a long-haired teenage rebel, nor is he wise beyond his years, an old soul or any of those clichés. He’s just
trying to make sense of the world around him, starting to see that nobody really knows what they’re doing,
everybody’s just winging it. It’s lonely and it’s confusing, and we all go through it only to put it behind us as we
enter the next leg of our journey, finding our place in this world.
How much of who you are comes from others and how much comes from your own decisions? Do you make the
right choice or do you sort of luckily stumble into it sometimes? The answer we might formulate when faced
with these questions, more than anything, speak volumes about who we are as people. My wish and greatest
challenge is to capture on film this private process as it unfolds in these characters’ lives.
MANDRAGORA
Mandragora is one of the most dynamic production companies in Romania. Founded by Cristi Puiu and Anca
Puiu in 2004, it shortly became a success projects generator, starting with its first production, The Death of Mr.
Lăzărescu, considered to be the first major film in the so-called Romanian New Wave and the spark that ignited
a national film renaissance that continues to this day. Mandragora is committed to the idea of making movies
that explore new ways in the cinema discourse. It also launches new talents, encouraging personal, coherent
approaches of the young filmmakers.
MANDRAGORA
T: +40 21 222 05 58
[email protected]
W: www.mandragora.ro
28
Crossroads Projects
Namesakes, short, 2013
Sofia IFF
He was born in Bucharest, in 1986. Both during and after
graduating Media University, he wrote, directed and edited
numerous short films that have been screened in festivals
around the world. He has also participated in the biggest
talent campuses in Europe: Berlin, Sarajevo, Locarno, Reykjavik. He spends his time doing various freelancing jobs in
film and media, and working on his own film scripts. The
Mistake is his self-penned feature debut.
Tarantyno, short, 2009
Transilvania IFF
A Fool’s Romance, short, 2007
Humming, short, 2006
Hello, short, 2006
Mircea Nestor
PRODUCER’S FILMOGRAPHY (selected)
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER’S PROFILE
The Manor House, 2017, by Cristi Puiu (in development)
In 2004, Anca Puiu founded the production house Mandragora with her husband, film-maker Cristi Puiu, making
their debut with his award-winning feature The Death Of
Mr.Lazarescu. She has since produced further successful
films by Puiu as well as Marian Crisan (Morgen and Rocker),
Peter Kerek (Adultery), Andrei Cohn (Family Pictures) or Ana
Lungu and documentaries by Ana Vlad and Adi Voicu (Metrobranding, Victoria). Anca has new projects in development
by Cristi Puiu, 3 debute films with Mircea Nestor, Dorian
Boguta and Liviu Sandulescu, 2 animations in direction of
Ioachim Stroe and one documentary by Vlad and Voicu.
The Trace, 2016, by Dorian Boguta (in development)
The Death of Carturan, 2016
by Liviu Sandulescu (in development)
Bucharest, doc, 2015,
by Ana Vlad and Adi Voicu (to be released)
Sieranevada, 2016, by Cristi Puiu (in post-production)
Self-Portrait Of A Dutiful Daughter, 2015, by Ana Lungu
Crossing Europe Film Festival Linz–Best Fiction Award
Morgen, 2010, by Marian Crisan
Locarno IFF–Jury prize
Thessaloniki IFF–Fipresci Prize, Best Director Award,
Best Actor Award
Reykjavik IFF
Aurora, 2010, by Cristi PUIU
Cannes FF–Un Certain regard
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER’S PROFILE
Raluca Paduraru has been collaborating with Mandragora
since 2011, working mainly in production but also in postproduction and sales. In the most recent feature projects
she was executive producer for Self-Portrait of a Dutiful
Daughter by Ana Lungu 2015, which has participated in different festivals like IFF Rotterdam, Crossing Europe – Linz,
Sao Paolo, Brazil etc. and also as a principal production coordinator in the most recent feature film by Cristi Puiu Sieranevada, which is currently in post-production.
The director’s previous film, Namesakes,
Raluca Paduraru
29
Crossroads Projects
The River
Greece
Produced by: BLACKBIRD PRODUCTION
Director: Haris Raftogiannis
Scriptwriters: Haris Raftogiannis,
Nikos Leros
Producer: Eleni Kossyfidou
Location: Greece-Attica
Looking for: Co-production
SYNOPSIS
What is “progress” for Makis, a small time motorway constructor, is a threat for Maria and her destitute community.
A car accident brings these two people closer. And their common passion for chicken nuggets even closer. But as
they become more attached to each other, their own “solid” worlds turn hostile to them. In order to be together,
they first have to lose everything.
The River is an existential love story in terms of a fairy tale. A story about two different worlds, two “opponents”
and their struggle to be one.
On the one hand, the colorful Americanized world of wealth and much waste, the world of Makis. The typical
western type road-movie spots: The big motorway (“the River” as some people call it), the big cars, the fast food
diners with the chicken nuggets, the huge parking lots, the shopping malls. Makis drives up and down the River
as a lonely fisherman, or as a cowboy.
On the other hand, a deserted and rocky area, a Mad Max look alike settlement: Maria’s community, recycles
everything and survives mostly from the modern world’s waste. The retro faces and clothes, the birds in the sky,
the birds on the plates, the primitive construction of a community, where one is for all and all for one, in order
to survive. But each world‘s unity is not stable enough.
The general tone of the film is closer to an ironic and often grotesque depiction of reality, reminding Kaurismäki’s
cinema, blending genres from melodrama to road movie.
BLACKBIRD PRODUCTION
BLACKBIRD PRODUCTION
T: +30 6946127354
30
The company of producer Eleni Kossyfidou was established in 2000. In 2004 she entered the field of feature
films firstly as production manager for True Life (Toronto FF) by P. H. Koutras. Co-producer/line producer of
Strella by P. H. Koutras (Berlin FF - Panorama 2009). Producer of The Enemy Within by Y. Tsemberopoulos
(Montreal IFF and BFI IFF 2013) and XENiA by P. H. Koutras (Un Certain Regard Cannes , Toronto IFF 2014).
Currently she is under preproduction with the feature film In This Land No One Knew How to Cry by acclaimed
Greek director G. Panoussopoulos,and in development with the first feature film of Haris Raftoyiannis The River
(MFI 2015) and Fantasia(Imagination) third feature of Alexis Kardaras.
Short films: under post production F.I.S.H by Chrysanthos Margonis, The Wood under preproduction by Lia
Tsalta. She has also produced 24 TV episodes (of 60’) for contemporary art The Era of Images by Dimitris Pantelias
2014-2015 and 14 TV documentaries(of 30’) Mikropoleis (Small Towns) by G. Gaitanidis, P. Miliou, Th. Kiaos
2011-2012 for ERT/National Channel , 3 short films Two Times Now by M. Konstantatos, Show Time by T. Papastylianos, Hot Dogs by D. Pantelias in co-production with ERT and Greek Film Center. Two short films: Athens
2004 for the opening ceremony of Olympic Games Athens 2004 The Last Sunset/Santorini for the last day of
20th century both by G. Panoussopoulos.
Crossroads Projects
Airland, doc (in post-production)
Born in Athens. Studied Sociology (University of Crete) and
Cinema (NYC of Athens).
Directed and produced the shorts, The Long Hall (experimental, 2005), On the Butcher’s Bench (fiction, 2007) and
documentaries for the Greek national television (ERT). Codirector of the feature film Democracy: The Way of the Cross
(2012), a Marc Gastin production (selection for best European
documentary, Grand Prix Europa 2013). His films were selected in numerous European film festivals and awarded in
Greece. His feature documentary Airland is in post production
(2015)
True blue, doc, 2015
Demokratia, the Way of the Cross, doc, 2013
A Silent Sea, doc, 2012
The Seeds’ Seeder, doc, 2011
On the Butcher’s Bench, short, 2007
The Long Hall, short, experimental, 2005
XENiA, by Panos H. Koutras, 2014
Cannes Film Festival–Un Certain Regard
Toronto FF
Thessaloniki IFF
Eleni Kossyfidou was born in Athens where she lives and
works. She studied marketing and human resources management. She has worked in different companies as marketing manager assistant, client service director, producer
and show director of commercial and artistic events and
producer of audiovisual programs and theatrical plays. From
1995 till 2004 she worked as producer of a number of TV
commercials and corporate video in cooperation with Filmiki
Productions SA and Stefi Productions SA. In 2000 she
founded Blackbird Production Company. She has produced
many short films and TV documentaries such as 6 docu dramas (TV release) Marathon Race, Ancient, Olympic Games,
Greek Modern Painters, Attic Black, Figured Pottery. 2 docudramas (Festivals/installations’ release) Angels’ Sadness,
When Shadows Whisper etc. by D. Pantelias and a number
of TV commercials and corporate videos 1990-2010. In 2004
she started producing feature films.
The Εnemy Within, by Yorgos Tsemberopoulos, 2013
BFI London Film Festival
Luxor IFF–Silver DJED Pillar
L’ Europe Autour de l’ Europe–Special Mention
Ecú Paris FF–Best European Independent
Dramatic Feature Beijing IFF
Strella, by Panos H. Koutras, 2009
Berlin Film Festival–Panorama
Chigago IFF
Osaka European FF
Oslo IFF–Best Feature Film
Bilbao IFF–Best Actress, Best Screenplay
2 Times Now, short by Michalis Konstantatos, 2006
Stockholm IFF-1st Best Film award
True Life, by Panos H. Koutras, 2004
Toronto FF
Thessaloniki IFF
Haris Raftogiannis
Eleni Kossyfidou
The director’s previous films, Silent Sea and
On the Butcher’s Bench, are available
at the Agora Film Market.
31
Crossroads Projects
The Seam Line
Israel
Produced by: LAMA FILMS
Director: Nir Sa'ar
Scriptwriter: Maya Sarfaty
Producers: Amir Harel & Ayelet Kait
Location: Israel
Looking for: Co-producers
SYNOPSIS
A suspense drama taking place in a rural area near Jerusalem, a no man's land where populations mix, monuments are burnt
in the sun and the land cries out thousands of years of history, faith and blood. It is the story of Ari, a young archaeologist, and
his daughter Yuval. They are faced with the sudden disappearance of Dafna, Ari's wife and Yuval's mother, on an ordinary day's
afternoon. Ari is forced to cope with this disaster, and to take care of his young girl, who shows elusive post-traumatic
symptoms. The family had moved to a settlement next to the border (called "the seam area" in Hebrew). Their new home is
near the archaeological site where Ari is supervising an excavation, trying to prove the historical existence of King David's
Kingdom. Ari goes on a desperate search to find his wife. The immediate suspicion is of kidnapping for political motives, but
soon he discovers that his family is deeply affected by various forces. The Settlement’s security officer is involved with a
network smuggling illegal workers. His neighbors, a religious Jewish-American couple, have a son leading a group of teenagers
against the Arab population. Ari loses faith in the authorities and expands his search to the other side. Before Dafna disappeared,
she had crossed paths with Nisrin, a young Palestinian girl that used to work in their house. She crossed the border to reunite
with her boyfriend against her family's will, and Dafna helped her escape. Yuval had witnessed the setup between Nisrin and
Dafna and holds the pieces to the puzzle. But Ari, absorbed in his chase, has lost touch with his young daughter. Dafna's body
will be found eventually in a spring hidden in the wadi – the smuggling path meeting points. The suspicions raised against
the Jewish inhabitants, as well as against the Palestinians, unveil the many underground conflicts in the area. The film echoes
complex ethnic-political reality in which no one is free from blame.
The story takes place in this "Seam Line", the actual and symbolic borderline between the Palestinians and Israel's Jewish population,
concealing clear borders and revealing blurry ones. It deals with borders as sites of separations and enclosures, but also with
fleeting, forbidden contacts and intense connections. The price one has to pay for maintaining them, the price for breaking through.
A series of border crossings – emotional, territorial and ethnical, is culminating to the ultimate crossing of border, from existence
to nothingness – The mysterious disappearance of Dafna, the wife of the film's protagonist, Ari. The disappearance composes the
film's main narrative, but it is not its true subject. The film's main interest is the family's struggle, the need to know what happened
at all cost, the automatic blaming of "the other side" and the act of revealing the reality around you. Ari, an outsider, now needs to
face the reality he until then chose to ignore, open his eyes truly and see what is taking place right under his nose. I believe this act
of actually seeing is of greater relevance today than it has ever been. Especially in regard of the young generation that already
brought up with the separation wall stands as a fact, dispatching communities and forcing ignorance. This alien existence of Ari is
in many ways the manifestation of my own experience. I was born and raised in Israel, but was always the “outsider”. As a Jewish
young man, I did not take part in the military service which is highly irregular, and in many cases put me in conflicts. On the other
hand it gives me unique perspective on day-to-day events. As a filmmaker I’ve been looking to approach the “other side”. On 2012
I took part in a rare Palestinian-Israeli project, a cooperation that also lead me to illegally cross the separation wall, and get to
know Ramallah and some of the surrounding villages. I am also keen on nature, and many times traveled on this elusive border.
One must understand that the separation wall is not quite a “real” border, as much as it is psychological blockage. Those hiking trips
put me in contact with local incidents, with Jewish and Palestine inhabitants, as depicted in my film Still Waters, a short film
premiered in Venice Film Festival in 2012. The film aims to be a psychological, social-political thriller in which the structure of
suspense is used as a mechanism to attract the audience, fascinate and put it on the edge of its seat; however the investigation is
but an "excuse" for the protagonist to cope with a deeper disturbing social truth. I see Ari, the archaeologist, in his educated and
progressive way, starting as a participant in a system of setting borders without even noticing. By disappearing, Dafna becomes
Ari's guide, and as the film evolves, he goes through a process of maturation. She is a pit that draws into it the fears that are born
on the border, on the seam line.
LAMA FILMS
LAMA FILMS
T: + 972 3 6850430
W: www.lamafilms.com
32
Located in Tel Aviv, Lama Films is one of the leading production companies in Israel, concentrating on social-, political- and
cultural-oriented projects. Since the turn of the millennium, Lama Films produced a line of internationally acclaimed and
successful films, thus established itself as a major production company in the local scene, as well as a first-choice addressee
for production companies from around the world, who seek co-productions in the Middle-East. Whether documentaries or
fiction films, Lama Films’ productions address phenomena that reflect the essence of Israeli existence, yet still appeal to
diverse audiences around the world.
Crossroads Projects
Still Waters, short, 2012
Venice Film Festival
Nir Sa'ar is a Tel Aviv University Graduate in Film and Television, specialized in Directing and Cinematography. His work
has been screened worldwide in festivals including Next
Reel NYU, Busan Korea, and La Biennale di Venezia. He has
experience in professional film and television productions,
with corporate clients and some of the most important
broadcasters in Israel, and also in premiere theatres in
various positions.
He is awarded from America-Israel Cultural Foundation in Directing and Cinematography with Excellency. Won First Prize
from The Gottlieb Film Foundation for screenwriting, and hold
a production scholarship from The Second Authority for television & radio. He is a freelance creative director from 2008.
Heavy Duty, short, 2012
Connexin, 2006
Thermostat, 2005
Barash 2015, by Michal Vinik
San Sebastián IFF 2015
Reykjavik IFF 2015
Haifa IFF–Post-Production Award, Script Award
in collaboration with the Scriptwriters‘ Guild,
Award for Best Actress, Award for Best Actor
Beginning his professional career as film editor back in late
80's, Amir Harel produced his first film, Desperado Square,
in 1999, in collaboration with the late film producer Haim
Manor. A year later, he initiated Lama films as a self-owned
company. Since then Amir Harel led his way picking his
projects thoughtfully and carefully, keeping long-term collaborations with directors, screenwriters and film-editors,
as well as production companies from around the world.
Man Without a Cellphone 2011, by Sameh Zoabi
New Directors New Films
Montpellier International Film Festival–Best Film
Jellyfish, 2007, by Etgar Keret, Shira Geffen
Cannes FF - Critics' Week–Camera d'Or Winner, Prix SACD,
Prix of the Young Critics
Bratislava IFF–Prize of the Ecumenical Jury,
Special Mention
Pusan FF–Official Selection
San Sebastian IFF–Official Selection
Toronto FF–Official Selection
The previous film of the director Still Waters
Nir Sa'ar
Amir Harel
Paradise Now, 2005, by Hany Abu Assad
Berlin FF–Blue Angel Award for Best European Film,
Amnesty International Award, Berliner Morgenpost
Audience Award, European Screenwriter Award
Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film
US National Board of Reviews Award for Best Foreign
Language Film
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Film
78th Academy Awards–Nominated for Best
Foreign Language Film
Walk On Water 2004 by Eytan Fox
Berlin FF–Panorama
James’ Journey to Jerusalem 2003
by Ra’anan Alexandrowicz
Cannes FF - Director’s Fortnight
Oslo IFF–Best film, Fipresci prize
Valencia IFF–Best film
New Delhi IFF–Most promising director
33
Crossroads Projects
A Shelter Among the Clouds
Albania
Produced by: ERAFILM ALBANIA Ltd
Director: Robert Budina
Scriptwriter: Robert Budina
Producer: Sabina Kodra
Secured Financing: 30 %
Location: Albania
Looking for: 70 %
SYNOPSIS
Besnik, a shepherd with mental health problems, lives with his father in a North Albanian village, where two different religious
communities, Muslim and Catholic, coexist in exemplary harmony; especially after it is discovered that the old mosque in the
village used to be a church in the past and the Muslims agree to share their holy shrine with their Catholic neighbours until a
new church is built in the village. Harmony reigns in Besnik’s family too, when his emigrant brother comes from Greece with
his wife and kids, having converted to the Orthodox faith and his sister with her husband and kids, all Muslims, also arrive to
spend Easter together and celebrate it at the church/mosque. The pater familias, a former communist, falls seriously ill and
leaves it in his will that the house will be inherited by whichever one of his children is going to take care of Besnik. It looks as
if both the elder brother and the middle sister want the house, and they start to compete with each other about who is going
to take better care of their younger brother; the latter however, once he understands what his siblings’ real motivation is,
refuses their help. Under the circumstances, the father decides to entrust his daughter with Besnik and the house, but this
becomes a cause for conflict with the elder brother, who fights to get the part of the house he is entitled to.The father passes
away and the house is divided with fences and new entrances; sister and brother and their families cut all ties between them;
Enver Hoxha’s pictures in the father’s room are replaced with Orthodox icons and Besnik’s living space shrinks so much that he
ends up living in the barn. Besnik had always dreamt of a large family but now he sees himself alone with the sheep, on the
top of a mountain where he has erected his shelter surrounded by clouds, which looks as if it is floating in the sky.
Can we love God and respect other people’s faith if we fail to deal humanely with the people closest to us? Besnik is a
metaphor for a society hurt by its past and whose members cannot find the right human, social and religious balances with
regard to themselves, their families, their neighbors and God. While it seems as if this society holds family values sacred, it
actually is being eroded from inside and due to economic distress by small-minded interests that disfigure human nature.
Because of specific historical circumstances, there has always been religious harmony between the various faith communities
in Albania. Yet, is this enough in order to love one’s neighbor, as all religions preach? It isn’t by accident that religious coexistence serves as a background to Albanian national history. On the one hand, it constitutes an unusual reality for troubled
areas, such as the Balkan Peninsula, where as recently as 15 years ago thousands of people would become casualties of
ethnic and religious wars; on the other hand, it can also appear as a paradox, as in the case of the events unfolding within
Besnik’s family. While the village mosque donates half of its space to the church and communities pray practically shoulder
to shoulder, Besnik’s family is divided with new walls and fences, because of conflicting interests between its members. His
struggle symbolizes everybody’s efforts to keep a balance between the need for survival and love for one’s neighbor, against
the backdrop of daily challenges. My intent is to make a film that conveys the sense of a unique reality and kindles the
viewers’ interest around the world, in times like these when religious wars have become a major global concern; as well as a
film that invites the public to reflect, by delivering a message of peaceful co-existence and harmony. The location enhances
certain metaphors that are best conveyed through images: Besnik’s shelter on the mountaintop among the clouds as a
shrine of sorts; the cliff on whose edge he stays with the goats as danger; and his former family house now caught in the
spider’s web of dividing walls and fences as hell. The mystic atmosphere of a village surrounded by the mountains, which
looks like a paradise where different religious communities live together will sharply contrast the poverty of interiors in
Besnik’s house, which stands for the frightening spiritual poverty of the family. The mosque/church dualism will also be
conveyed through the selection of camera angles, which should create the impression, to the viewer, that a Muslim is
praying in the church and the Christian Catholic is praying in the mosque – in order to visually highlight the idea of religious
harmony. As far as the film tone is concerned, poetry and mysticism will be paired together. Poetry will be touching and
harsh at the same time. In other words, the film will promptly introduce a particular, mystical reality, which will then
become poetry and a more complex reflection on the unfolding events.
ERAFILM ALBANIA LTD
ERAFILM
T: +35 694095804
W: www.erafilm-albania.com
34
ERAFILM ALBANIA Ltd was founded in 2001 by Sabina Kodra and Robert Budina. Both directors graduated from the Academy
of Arts in Tirana, Albania. The company is owned solely by one partner: Sabina Kodra. The main objective of the company is
the making and distribution of feature, medium, and short films, documentaries, animated films, commercials and
audiovisual programs of all kinds which may be screened both in Albania and abroad, and the organizing of cinematic,
artistic and audiovisual activities which may be held both in Albania and abroad.
Crossroads Projects
The Hampered (in development)
Robert Budina was born in Korca, Albania and is working
as an independent film producer and director. He graduated
from the Academy of Arts, Theater Directing. He has directed
and written several theater plays. Together with Sabina Kodra he founded ERAFILM ALBANIA Ltd in 2001. He has produced documentaries and shorts, before producing Balkan
Bazaar a feature comedy by Edmond Budina in 2009. Robert
has also filed numerous roles as executive producer, production supervisor and assistant director in various international co-productions, including Letters in the Wind by
Edmond Budina, Littoral by Wajdi Mouawad, Forgiveness of
Blood by Joshua Marston. Sunrise was his first feature film
as a director, after his short film Lulebore, and Spiderman 5
screened at 30 festivals all around the word and received
Sunrise, 2012
Chicago IFF
Helsinki IFF
Shanghai IFF
South East European FF Los Angeles
Saint Petersburg IFF
Spiderman 5, short, 2009
Snowdrops, short, 2005
Sworn Virgin, 2015, Laura Bispuri, co-producer
Berlin FF
Tribeca IFF
Karlovy Vary IFF
London IFF
Chicago IFF
Producer Sabina Kodra graduated from the Academy of Arts
in Tirana, Albania and then went on to form ERAFILM ALBANIA Ltd in 2001. Together with director Robert Budina,
she produced a series of shorts, documentaries and commercials before writing and producing the 2011 feature comedy, Balkan Bazaar. Sabina Kodra has also filled numerous
roles from production design to assistant director on various
Albanian and international co-productions, including the
critically acclaimed Greek fiction feature Eduart (2006) and
Gjergj Xhuvani's East West East (2009). She released the Albanian feature film, Sunrise (2012) by Robert Budina, as
well as the upcoming feature documentary, Made In Albania
by Stefania Casini, Bota by Iris Elezi and Sworn Virgin by
Laura Bispuri based on the novel of the same title by Elvira
Dones.
In 2013 she founded Erafilm Kosovo, working on different
projects in the development stage.
Bota, 2012, by Iris Elezi,Thomas Logoreci
Karlovy Vary IFF
Helsinki IFF
Reykjavik IFF–FIPRESCI Prize and Audience Award
Cottbus IFF
San Francisco IFF–Official Selection
Sunrise, 2012, by Robert Budina
Chicago IFF
Helsinki IFF
Shanghai IFF
South East European FF Los Angeles
Bloody Hero (USA) IFF–Award for Best Male Actor and Best Film
Balkan Bazaar, 2011, by Edmond Budina
Sofia IFF
Prishtina IFF
Chichester IFF
New York Albanian Film Week
Robert Budina
Sabina Kodra
The director’s previous film, Sunrise,
Letters in the Wind, 2003, by Edmond Budina
Thessaloniki IFF
Sofia IFF
Istanbul IFF
Gallio Festival del Cinema Italiano–Award for
Best Screenplay
Linz IFF–Best Film Award
35
Crossroads Projects
The T Factor
Italy
Produced by: CONTRORA FILM
Director: Francesco Costabile
Scriptwriters: Francesco Costabile,
Mariano Di Nardo
Producer: Alessandra Grilli
Location: Italy (Trieste), Slovenia, Croatia
Looking for: Co-producers, Distributors,
International Sales, International
development and Production Funds
SYNOPSIS
Matteo is thirty years old, from the south of Italy. He moved to Trieste, where he teaches at the agricultural institute. Fond of
his job, he has few relationships with his colleagues; lengthy telephone conversations with his mother punctuate his routine.
At the end of the day, upon returning home, Matteo transforms into Veronica, an attractive woman who has sexual relationships
with casual lovers she meets through chat sites. One day, Adam arrives at her home. He’s a Croatian guy who’s different from
the rest, not only because of his mixture of innocence and vitality, but also because he immediately displays a genuine interest
in Veronica. When Matteo discovers that Adam is a student in his new class, he refuses to see him again as Veronica but Adam
doesn’t give up and knocks at Veronica’s door every night. One day, at school, Adam provokes Matteo, showing him that he
knows his real identity and Veronica, shocked but also attracted by the idea that Adam knows and accepts his complex identity
genre, gives in and opens the door to her house. Veronica thinks she will be able to manage the love affair with Adam as
Veronica at night and the relationship at school during the day. It is thanks to this complicity with Adam that Veronica leaves
her home for the first time, finally at ease with herself, but things get complicated when one night Adam persuades Veronica
to go to Slovenia for a metal concert. The real purpose of Adam is in fact to visit the father who abandoned him for a new
family. Veronica discovers the complexity of Adam’s inner world and, afraid of having a bad influence on him, she tries to act
with Adam more as his teacher Matteo than as Veronica, who puts an end to their night meetings. But it will be Veronica’s reconciliation with Adam that will help him to grow up and accept the absence of his father and makes Veronica understand how
to feel freedom in being who she wants to be, without choosing a pre-set role but freely expressing her gender identity.
CONTRORA FILM
T: +393283114246
The T Factor wants to tell a story about development, a journey of discovery and liberation that involves a teacher. A figure
often idealized in which the rhetoric of a pedagogue invested in vocational training and the educational mission is present.
Matteo is a man trapped by a series of superstructures that lead him to completely divide sexuality and affectedness;
dominated by a mother – from whom he has never managed to free himself – and a victim of a feeling of blame that leads
him to repress and box in his real identity. Veronica, his female name, will gradually accept the relationship with Adam, a
foreign man who, with his mixture of naivety and stability, will help her discover a new reality and a new perspective on life.
The point of view between teacher and student is reversed. The story of Matteo/Veronica is one of personal development,
which I love to define as back-to-front: it is the teacher himself that has to mature and discover something about himself
thanks to his relationship with his student. Matteo will discover a Veronica capable of existing outside the four walls of her
home. A Veronica that needn’t feel embarrassed, especially not by her own femininity. And above all she will discover she is
not obliged to choose, that it is possible to live freely as a woman and as a man, switching between genders that is exempt
of conflict. A condition of transgenderism free from any sort of binarism, where hormonal therapy is not necessary for
finding oneself and, above all, where one does not deny their past and who they once were. With this broad notion, the
character of Matteo/Veronica is quite unprecedented in Italian and international film. Stories of homosexuals and transsexuals
are often told, but the infinite intermediary shades of gender identity are rarely taken into consideration. One can be happy
living a life with both masculine and feminine traits, without any sort of conflict. It’s just a matter of realizing it. It is this
gradual and progressive discovery that is the founding nucleus of the film. The film presents situations ‘at the limit’ that
could prove to be morbid or grotesque without the right filter. A subtle irony – which I hope transpires through the treatment
– is necessary to avoid such risks. The exclusive telephone relationship between Matteo and his mother (a woman from the
south who loves to assert her control from afar); the repeated conversations regarding the house and its furnishings;
Veronica’s paranoia in confronting the world and leaving the house, will all be elements capable of lightening the tone,
creating laughter and helping the audience warm to the characters. The house will have a key role in the film; it is described
as a barren and grey space, a mirror of the missing identity that Veronica must construct, or rather reconstruct, step by step.
To observe the life and actions that enliven this apartment becomes a necessary act to understand in depth Veronica’s
feelings and fears. I imagine a straightforward directing style, without an overly invasive mise-en-scene, in which the
attention of the audience is drawn uniquely by feelings and emotions that move the protagonists. It will therefore avoid
aesthetic and colorful clichés that often accompany the representation of the queer and transgender world.
CONTRORA FILM
Controra Film is a brand new company founded in 2012 by Alessandra Grilli and Serena Sostegni. They both have been working in the International cinema industry for more than ten
years. Alessandra worked at Acaba Produzioni S.R.L as head of development and delegate producer. Serena is currently working in the development department of Cattleya S.P.A, working
also as an executive in charge of production for first feature films. The main focus of their activities is the development and production of independent and low budget first feature films,
with a special attention to social and cultural contemporary issues. Moreover, they recently started developing a documentary and they are willing to improve their skills in that field,
attending documentary markets worldwide. Thanks to their previous work as talent scouts and script readers, they have established long-term relationships with directors and scriptwriters
but also with the main cinema business representatives in the country.
36
Crossroads Projects
Piero Tosi, 1690 l’inizio di un secolo, 2014
Biografilm Festival
Francesco earned a degree in Cinema and Literature at
Bologna University, and attended the Centro Sperimentale
di Cinematografia, the most important Film school in Italy.
His previous short L'armadio, had a special nomination at
Nastro D'Argento 2005 and with Inside Rome, he won Nastro
d'Argento 2006 and was in competition in many festivals
worldwide, among which the Clermond-Ferrand Short Film
Festival. While discovering himself and exploring the complexity of his gender identity, Francesco started teaching
film direction at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia,
Accademia delle Belle Arti and different technical schools.
Only with The T Factor did he find a way to express himself
through a fiction film, going on with the work he started
when he was at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia
as a student.
La carrera, doc, 2013
Belgrade Ethnological FF
Trento FF
L'abito e il volto, 2010
Biografilm Festival–Audience award
Inside Rome, short, 2006
Nastro d'Argento–Best Film
David di Donatello–Best Short
L'armadio, 2005
Nastro D'Argento–Special nomination
2night, feature film, directed by
Ivan Silvestrini, (in post-production)
Alessandra worked at Acaba Produzioni S.R.L as head of development and delegate producer. In 2013 she was executive
in charge of development for Salvo directed by Antonio Piazza and Fabio Grassadonia (winner of the Critics’ Week
Grand Prize and France 4 visionary award at the Cannes International Film Festival 2013), co-produced by Cristaldi
Pictures, Mact productions, Citè Film with Eurimages, Torinofilmlab Fund, National Fund, and the Media development
fund. In 2012 she was the executive producer for Alì Blue
Eyes, directed by Claudio Giovannesi (winner of the Jury
Award and the Best First and Second Feature Film award at
the Rome International Film Festival 2012), distributed in
Italy by BIM distribuzione and worldwide by Intramovies.
In 2010 she was the executive producer for Into Paradiso,
directed by Paola Randi (selected at the Venice International
Film Festival 2010, Controcampo italiano), was co-produced
by Cinecittà Luce, with the National Film Fund and the Regione Campania Film Fund and was distributed by Cinecittà
Luce, International Sales Ellypsis Media International. In
2010 she was the head of development for A Quiet Life, directed by Claudio Cupellini (selected at the Rome International Film Festival 2010, Toni Servillo winner of the award
for Best leading actor), was co-produced by Eos Entertainment, with Rai Cinema, the National Film Fund and distributed by 01 Distribuzione, International Sales Beta Cinema.
Sommersi, Mia Familia, documentary,
directed by Gogo Bianchi, (in post-production)
Francesco Costabile
Alessandra Grilli
The director’s previous film, Inside Rome,
37
Crossroads Projects
Tide
Lebanon
Director/Scriptwriter/Producer:
Hussen Ibraheem
Location: Lebanon
Looking for: Co-production,
distribution, funds and grants
SYNOPSIS
A married couple with different citizenships have recently lost their child. In order to get their son’s body out of
the hospital and save the remains of their troubled marriage they set off on a journey to an old relative’s house
that lives across the country to find the missing papers which can set their son’s body free from the morgue. Tide
points out important questions about life, death, love and the still existing barriers between different nationalities.
The film also shows the lack of sensibility in the bureaucracy world and how that can reduce people to a piece
of paper. Sometimes, we should free ourselves from all these social constraints. Tide will be also a film about the
inner journey– through the husband’s and wife’s souls and towards the roots of their beings and relation. Tide is
also a film about the borderline put in the matrimonial bed.
Tide is a film about a married couple who lost their child. It is a film about their journey through Lebanon to find
a missing official document to release their son’s body from the hospital.
Tide is also about the inner journey of the couple’s souls towards the roots of their being and relationship. It is
also a film about the borderline put in the matrimonial bed. Hassan and Zeina are a Palestinian-Lebanese
couple. While spending the day at the beach, their younger son dies accidentally in the sea. Already in the
hospital they try to claim their son’s dead body. But some official papers are missing. Hassan and Zeina will try
to find them, but finally bureaucracy will prevail. Tide is structured as a road movie, taking place during one day,
as Hassan and Zeina set out on a journey of desperation, hope and fear.
The characters will be pushed to difficult and extreme situations, making them throw in the towel. The film is
conceptual enough but, apart from the “blue mood”, it introduces into the script many amusing details which
will make Tide attractive to the audience and easy to understand.
The Tide protagonists are free from redundant facts, but they are not flat. I chose “simple is the best” and guide
the audience through the labyrinth of the real world, through the walls of bureaucracy, political pitfalls, (inter)national (in)tolerance and coexistence. The final aim is to show that life prevails above all else. Life is celebrated. I
try to be proficient at composing scenes: The viewer always hears one, while he sees the other in order to get
the real emotion and meaning when he unites all elements in the process of watching.
Tide is a very raw and real story that is completely immediate. Taking place in one day, it explores the most
profound events that can happen in a family while laying bare the fissures that can occur in a marriage. The
added complexities of different nationalities (and parents unwilling to accept these differences) makes for a
deep story. The approach of the writing is immediate and present. Nothing is wasted. We should feel the
immediacy of the raw emotion that the story demands. This story is universal and visceral.
Hussen Ibraheem
T: +96 171855131
W: hussenibraheem.daportfolio.com
38
Crossroads Projects
DIRECTOR’S/PRODUCER’S FILMOGRAPHY
DIRECTOR’S/PRODUCER’S PROFILE
Are we there yet? short, 2014
Typo, short, 2013
3:30, short, 2012
Franco Arab FF-Best Narrative Film Award
Nomadic, short doc, 2012
A Lebanese film maker with Turkish origins, he did his BA
in architecture and then received a fully covered scholarship
to do his MFA at The Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts in
Jordan, a branch of the University of Southern California
(USC). During these two years he directed and worked on
dozens of short films and documentaries. His first short film
received the jury prize for the best narrative at the FrancoArab film festival and was selected for more than 15 international film festivals. He produced and directed his second
short film Typo, which was also officially selected for more
than 17 international film festivals and he is also producing,
writing and directing his first feature film Tide which is still
in the development process as it was selected at the Rawi
Screenwriter Development Workshop by the Royal Film
Commission in Jordan and supported by the Sundance Film
Institute, and was also selected to Meditalents which is a
one year round script development workshop. Meditalents
is organized by the Agence Algerienne du Development
Culturel (AARC), and the French Institute of Algeria (IFA),
with the Support of Euromed Audiovisual, and Supported
by the Centre National Du Cinema (France) and the Centre
Cinematographique Marocain (Morocco) and TV5. Also the
film was presented at the Beirut Cinema Project in 2013 for
a possible co-production with Europe. Hussen is also working
on the development of two short films, Sweet Discomfort
of Missed Connections which is in the development process
and Zoher. Hussen is also co-directing with Rami el Harayri
the short film Beirut 1975, which received the Alba fund at
Malmo Arab film development fund for short films in Oct
2015.
Hussen Ibraheem
The director’s previous films, 3:30 and Typo,
are available at the Agora Film Market.
39
Crossroads Projects
Usud
Serbia
Produced by: EED// Productions
Director: Stefan Malesevic
Scriptwriter: Stefan Malesevic
Producer: Vladimir Vasiljevic
Secured Financing: 10,000 Euro
(EED Productions investment)
Location: Bosnia and Serbia or
other co-producers’ country
Looking for: Co-producer &
Post-Production Partner
SYNOPSIS
In a Slavic pagan village two brothers inherit a farm from their father. Just like before their father’s death, the younger
brother keeps doing all of the work until one day he confronts the older brother with his decision to split the property in half.
After the split, he continues working hard but to no avail. His half of the land seems cursed. Grains don’t grow, fruit rots,
animals get sick and die, floods and droughts fall upon him. The man keeps trying the way he used to before but the
troubles don’t ease up. One night he sets out to find the reason for all the misfortune that has fallen upon him. He starts his
search for Usud, the deity responsible for assigning destinies. His search lasts for countless days during which he wanders
through various landscapes and adventures until he finally reaches a portal to Usud’s realm. He waits and observes as Usud
assigns destinies to newborns. After three days of waiting Usud finally hears out his guest’s problems, shrugs and explains
that he has no power of decision, but simply does his job as days change. He explains to the man that he was born on a
“muddy day”, while his brother was born on a “golden day”, so there’s nothing to be done. After the man insists, Usud
suggests that he marry his brother’s daughter Milica, who was also born on a “golden day”, and let her claim all his belongings.
He returns, does what Usud suggested and the farm, now owned by Milica, starts flourishing again, inspiring him to work
even harder, until one day a mysterious figure shows up during his work in the field and asks about the owner of the field.
The man replies that the field belongs to him and the field goes up in flames that very moment.
EED// Productions, Belgrade, Serbia
T: +381 641514812
W: www.eed.rs
SLOVOFILM,
Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina
T: +387 51340640
40
Once upon a time humans were beasts – living and dying, surviving, killing and being killed. Then humans developed words and
acquired reason. Words became names, and naming a person or an object separated it from the universe as a whole, making it
unique and more valuable. Humans wanted to own what was marked as valuable. But when belongings started to decay, humans
became aware of their fragility and passage of time, so they developed technology to try to protect themselves from nature and
preserve what they owned. As this battle could not be won, the humans started asking questions, wanting to know and to
understand. “Why is all this happening to us and what should we do about it?” But they couldn’t find a definite answer, so they
kept getting disappointed because they couldn’t escape death, make a house that doesn’t decay over time, prove that God exists
or doesn’t exist, find the smallest particle or the end of the universe, make their lives independent from nature, and so on.
Usud explores the cursed desire to label and own, the human depending relationship with nature and the insatiable urge to find
definite answers for the eternal questions. Through these three main subjects Usud covers a wide spectrum of problems and
reflections of a human in the western world of social organization based on male principles and attitudes towards work, decay,
owning, finiteness, communion, death, knowledge and cognition. The film is put in a rural society from the past, but all the
problems of the main character can easily be transposed to any time and equally well describe the medieval kings, seventies
communist political prisoners not knowing the reason for their incarceration, tycoons of today or any regular human that ever had
a chance to call something his own, and then shared this something with others, willingly or forced.
Starting point of my writing process was an old Serbian pagan tale, transmitted orally from generation to generation until it
reached me through my grandfather. While researching I found out that this story can be found in many places other than the
Slavic Mythology. The peoples of Finland, Central Africa, Russia and India have their own versions of this story, which shows how
universal and timeless the themes of Usud are.
The basis of the story is supplemented by and intertwined with family legends from lives of my ancestors, all in relation to the
central themes of the film – owning, division and decaying. The whole film will be shot in an extinct proto-Slavic language (Old
Church Slavonic), so that it is not referring to any contemporary culture specifically, but to all pagan cultures of our past. The idea is
to make a pagan film, instead of a film about pagans, conveying the essence of pagan worldviews rather than the form of their
customs and costumes. It will employ an organic approach - brutal, honest, immediate, naive and natural.
EED
SLOVOFILM
As a result of a year’s long experience building, EED// Productions was founded in order
to produce outstanding films with an attitude. We understand that filmmaking is all
about passion and that’s why EED// is run by experienced filmmakers and young talents
whose passion can add up.
Slovofilm was formed in 2015 by the director and producer Stefan Malešević, mostly to
serve as a backbone to production of his own author films but with the goal to serve as a
house open for co-productions for Stefan’s colleagues from Bela Tarr’s film.factory academy.
Slovofilm is currently developing and pre-producing two feature films written and directed
by Stefan Malešević.
Crossroads Projects
A Fine Day for Bananafish, short, 2014
Trieste Film Festival–Official Competition
Pogradec FF–Jury prize
Edinburgh IFF
Dublin IFF
Stefan Malešević was born in 1989 in Belgrade, Serbia. He
is currently attending the film.factory PhD program in Sarajevo run by Bela Tarr, where workshops are given by a number of important names from the film industry such as Fred
Kelemen, Carlos Reygadas, Apichatpong Weerasethakul,
Gus Van Sant, Guy Maddin, Cristian Mungiu, Tilda Swinton,
Juliette Binoche and many others. He directed more than
20 short films (fiction, animation, experimental, documentary), many of which were screened and/or awarded at international film festivals in Trieste, Paris, London, Dublin,
Belgrade etc. He is currently developing his first feature film
under the mentorship of Bela Tarr.
Non-Stop Plavi, short, 2013
Die Rothaarige, short, 2012
The Day I Stopped Caring, short, 2009
Elipsa, short, 2009
The Last Goodbye, by Milica Tomovic (in development)
Vladimir Vasiljevic was born in 1981. in Kragujevac, Serbia.
In 2002, he enrolled in the Faculty of dramatic arts in Belgrade, section Film and Television production. Started working as a film professional from 2002. As a result of a year’s
long experience founded the EED// Productions.
Vladimir has participated in EAVE European Producers Workshop
(2015); Sarajevo Film Festival – Sarajevo Talent Campus (2012);
Cannes Film Festival – Producers Workshop (2011); Faculty of
Dramatic Arts – (2002-2006) MA in Film & TV Producing
Mamonga, by Stefan Malesevic (in pre-production)
Black Dog, by Ivan Bukvic (pre-production)
Transition, short, by Milica Tomovic (production)
The Black Pin, by Ivan Marinovic (post-production)
The director’s previous film, A Fine Day
for Bananafish, is available at the Agora Film Market.
Stefan Malesevic
Vladimir Vasiljevic
41
AGORA WORKS IN PROGRESS 2015
12 NOVEMBER 2015
The Agora Works in Progress selection team are
Marie-Pierre Macia, Yianna Sarri,
Angeliki Vergou (Agora Industry),
Dimitris Kerkinos (Balkan Survey),
Eleni Androutsopoulou (Greek Films)
AWARDS SPONSOR
This industry activity gives the
opportunity to selected sales agents,
distributors and festival
programmers, to be the first to
discover feature films from Central
Europe, the Mediterranean and the
Balkan region, in the stage just
before completion.
Ali, the Goat and Ibrahim
Egypt
page 48
The Black Pin
Montenegro-Serbia
page 49
The City with No Compass
Spain
page 50
Works
in
progress
Goran
Croatia
page 51
Fellini
Greece
page 52
Hristo
Bulgaria, Italy
page 53
Land of the Little People
(out of competition)
Israel-Palestine
page 54
The Last Day
Romania
page 55
That Trip We Took With Dad
(working title)
Germany, Romania-Hungary, Sweden
page 56
Voevoda
Bulgaria, Croatia
page 57
Ali, the Goat and Ibrahim
Egypt
Production Company:
TRANSIT FILMS–FILM CLINIC
Director: Sherif El Bendary
Screenwriters:
Ahmed Amer-Ibrahim El Batout
Cast: Nahed El Sebaï, Ali Sobhi,
Salwa Mohamed Ali, Ahmed Magdi
Producer: Hossam Elouan-Mohamed Hefzy
Production Stage: Post-production
Duration: 110’
Looking For: Partners, Funds, Sales Agents
CONTACT PERSON
Hossam Elouan, Producer
TRANSIT FILMS
T: +20 1060528732
Mohamed Hefzy, Producer
FILM CLINIC
T: +202 252 680 50
W: http://film-clinic.com/
SYNOPSIS
Ali is rarely seen without a goat called Nada who he believes is the incarnation of his fiancée who died years
ago. Ibrahim is a sound man who hears voices that scare him to death. Both Ali and Ibrahim’s paths cross and
they embark on a journey that will change their lives.
Dry Hot Summers, short, 2015
Robert Bosch Stiftung-Film Prize for International Cooperation
On the Road to Downtown, 2011
Doha Film Institute
Sherif El Bendary, film director
Curfew, short, 2011
Cannes FF
Abu Dhabi FF
At Day's End, short, 2008
Tribeca FF
Rise & Shine, short, 2006
Born in 1978, Egyptian filmmaker Sherif El Bendary lives and works in Cairo. El Bendary graduated from the
Faculty of Applied Arts in 2001 and he then studied Film Directing at the High Institute of Cinema in Cairo. He
graduated in 2007 and he has been teaching film directing there since 2008.
48
Hossam Elouan, producer
present at Agora WiP
The Black Pin
Montenegro, Serbia
Production Company:
ADRIATIC WESTERN
Director: Ivan Marinović
Screenwriter: Ivan Marinović
Cast: Nikola Ristanovski, Leon Lučev,
Bogdan Diklic, Seka Sablić
Producer: Ivan Marinović
Key Partner: Ministry of Culture
(Montenegro), Vladimir Vasiljević
(EED Production Serbia),
Duration: 90’
Looking For: Post-production resources,
Sales Agent & Distribution
SYNOPSIS
Father Peter is afraid that the universe is indifferent. God no longer intervenes. His wife has abandoned him. His
son rebels against him. And his mother seldom recognizes him thanks to Alzheimer's.
When Peter becomes an obstacle to a large property sale in his parish, the group of colourful, but also vengeful
villagers decides to chase him away. Their creative ways made the entire superstitious village to believe that
Peter is the cause of all troubles on the peninsula.
Their clash escalates at the funeral of a supposed witch that turns into a surreal mayhem. Peter’s faith in people
completely vanishes, but his enemies may show kindness when he needs it the most.
CONTACT PERSON
Ivan Marinović, Producer
ADRIATIC WESTERN
T: +38269469314
W: adriaticwestern.com
Praise the Sea, Stick to the Shore, short doc, 2010
Supetar Super FF
Montenegro FF
A Football Story, short, 2009
Famufest
Born in 1984 in Kotor, Montenegro. He graduated from the FAMU film and television academy in Prague (MgA
degree in film directing) in 2011.
He shot several short films, as well as a noted documentary Praise the Sea, Stick to the Shore. He was a co-writer
and directing assistant on Ivo Trajkov’s feature film 90 Minutes - The Berlin Project which was selected for Cameraimage in Poland, and Manaki Brothers in Bitola.
The Black Pin is his first full-length feature as a writer/director. It won multiple awards for its screenplay
(Jerusalem film lab 2014, Cinelink Sarajevo FF).
Ivan Marinović, film director/producer
49
The City with No Compass
Spain
Production Company: SAVINELLI FILMS
Director: Antonio Savinelli
Screenwriter: Antonio Savinelli
Cast: Javier Mejía, Agnes Kiraly
Producers: Antonio Savinelli,
Ismael García Lopez
Duration: 80’
Budget: 12,000 Euro
Looking For: Post-production,
Sales and Distribution
CONTACT PERSON
Antonio Savinelli, Producer
SAVINELLI FILMS
T: +34 605869030
W: www.savinellifilms.com
SYNOPSIS
The City With No Compass becomes the meeting point for two foreigners that have lost the way to their dreams.
Anna is a Hungarian immigrant and Pascual is a stranger in his own life. Their paths cross just to remind them of
what really matters.
Orange Juice, short, 2006
San Sebastián FF
L’hermita–1st prize
Habitat, videoart short, 2009
21th Instants Video Festival Marseille
Óptica Festival
Antonio Savinelli, film director/producer
Nebbia, videoart short, 2010
Festival Tirant Avant–Best video creation
Óptica Festival
Festival Desvelarte
Athens Video Art Festival
Lizdas, short doc, 2012
3rd Festival Benisanó–Best Photography, Best Short film prize
Green Film Festival Seoul
MiradasDoc12 International Festival The Canary Islands
Ismael Garcia Lopez, producer
50
Antonio Savinelli is a filmmaker. He is the author of numerous short films, documentaries and video arts that
have been awarded in important film festivals. He has extensive experience as a teacher at various schools and
universities. The City With No Compass is his feature film debut.
Goran
Croatia
Production Company: ANTITALENT D.O.O.
Director: Nevio Marasović
Screenwriter: Gjermund Gisvold
Cast: Franjo Dijak,
Nataša Janjić, Goran Bogdan
Producer: Danijel Pek
Duration: 90’
Secured Financing: 88.57%
Looking For: Post production funding,
World sales representative, Distribution
SYNOPSIS
Goran just wants to drive his taxi and take care of his blind wife, Lina. However, people close to him have their
own agendas and dreams which threaten his carefree existence. In the idyllic surroundings of snow-covered
highlands, few gatherings of old friends and family occur. At first, it all seems ideal but one can notice (though,
not pinpoint) something worrisome and just not quite right. As the story progresses, fiery personalities of highlanders surface and collide. White gets mixed with red.
CONTACT PERSON
Danijel Pek, Producer
ANTITALENT D.O.O.
T: +385 91 1250 205
W: www.antitalent.hr
Vis-à-Vis, feature, 2013
Pula FF–Best Film, Young Cinephile Jury
Zagreb FF–Official Competition, Special Mention
Los Angeles FF–Best feature film
PriFest Priština–Best Balkan Director
Transilvania IFF
Nevio Marasovic, film director
The Show Must Go On, feature, 2010
Shanghai IFF
In 2013, Nevio Marasović directed his second feature-length film, Vis-A-Vis. At Prifest, he was proclaimed the
best director in the Balkans and the film was voted one of the top five European films of the year by European
film portal CINEUROPA and won the Grand Prix at SEEfest LA.
Katarina Janković, executive produce
51
Fellini
Greece
Production Company:
ZONARAS PRODUCTIONS
Director: Karolos Zonaras
Screenwriters:
Karolos Zonaras, Katerina Bei
Cast: Katia Leclerc O'Wallis,
Konstantinos Aspiotis, Athina Pappa,
Pavlos Evangelopoulos
Producer: Katia Leclerc
Key Partners: Lefteris Danikas,
Katiana Micha, Konstantinos Aivalis
Duration: 95’
Secured Financing: 60 %
Looking For: Distribution, Sales
CONTACT PERSON
Katia Leclerc, Producer
ZONARAS PRODUCTIONS
T: +30 210 3412711, 698 2211542
W: www.zonarasproductions.com
SYNOPSIS
The film narrates the ordeal of a young Greek, who wakes up after a traffic accident not knowing who he is. An
Italian passport with his alleged name: Pedro Noula, a broken cell phone, a bank check and the photograph of a
woman are the only clues he has at his disposal. With these at hand and with the help of a woman, a wellknown singer with whom he becomes romantically involved, he will attempt to search for his identity. His quest
will turn out to be a nightmarish adventure, in which he will find himself confronted by his darkest side.
The film was presented as a project in the Crossroads Co-production Forum 2013
Big Hit, feature, 2012
Thessaloniki IFF
Warsaw IFF
Kolkata IFF
Karolos Zonaras, film director
Charlie's Son, feature, 2009
Thessaloniki IFF
Cult FF
London Greek FF
Ade E Core, short, 1994
Locarno IFF
Oreste a Tor Bella Monaca, short 1993
Venice FF
Katia Leclerc O' Wallis, producer
52
Karolos Zonaras was born in Athens in 1956. He studied Economics at the University of Piraeus and Cinema at
NYU in New York. He then attended the Centro Sperimentale in Rome, Italy where he lived for 13 years. Since
1999 he lives in Greece, making commercials and documentaries. His first feature Charlie’s Son was released in
Greece in 2009.
Hristo
Bulgaria, Italy
Production Company: LEMA FILM
Directors: Grigor Lefterov,
Todor Matsanov
Screenwriter: Grigor Lefterov
Cast: Dimitar Nikolov, Dimitar Krumov
Producers: Grigor Lefterov, Todor Matsanov
Key Partner:
Federico Saraceni-Idea Cinema (Italy),
Bulgarian National Film Center
Duration: 100’
Looking For: Sales Agents, Distributors,
Producers and Festival Programmers
SYNOPSIS
Hristo is a former homeless boy who managed to find a job and rent a place. He would do anything to get a
normal life. Despite his hard work, one day he gets fired and he is forced to go back to living on the streets. Time
passes by in unsuccessfully trying to find a new job. Life gets tougher in the winter and he reaches his limits in
order to survive. One night, he almost kills a man in order to take his job. Things begin to get better, when he's
suddenly faced with the dilemma of saving his friend's life or losing his job.
CONTACT PERSON
Grigor Lefterov, Todor Matsanov, Producers
LEMA FILM
T: +359888518967
DIRECTOR’S FILMOGRAPHY GRIGOR LEFTEROV
The Desert Runner, feature, 2009 (Warsaw FF & Golden Rose FF in Varna)
Elin Pelin – the European, doc, 2008 – Somebody’s Children, doc, 2004
Train 301, feature, 1997 – Zeitnot, doc, 1996
DIRECTOR’S FILMOGRAPHY TODOR MATSANOV
Nightingale of the Bulgarian Radio, doc, 2010 – With a Friend to You, doc, 2008
The Belly of a Penguin, doc, 2000 – With Reference to the Incident, feature, 1997 (Munich FF)
Look at Me, short, 1996 (Students'Short FF Skopje-Audience Award)
Grigor Lefterov, film director/producer
DIRECTORS’ PROFILE
Grigor Lefterov studied film and television directing at the Bulgarian National Academy for Theatre and Film
Arts in Sofia, gaining a master's degree. In the period between 1998 and 2011, he worked at the Bulgarian
National Television as a director and screenwriter for many programmes. In 2012, his script Hristo was ranked
first in the feature film category at the Bulgarian National Film Centre. Todor Matsanov gained a master's
degree in film and television directing at the Bulgarian National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts. In the
period between 1998 and 2011, he worked as a director and scriptwriter; he shot many television programmes
for Bulgarian Television.
Todor Matsanov, film director/producer
53
Land of the Little People
(out of competition)
Israel, Palestine
Production Company: FRESCO FILMS
Director: Yaniv Berman
Screenwriter: Yaniv Berman
Cast: Lior Rochman, Amit Hechter, Mishel
Pruzansky, Ido Kestler
Producer: Tony Copti
Key Partner: Israel Film Fund
Production Stage: Grading,
Sound Design, Music
Duration: 83’
Secured Financing: Post-production 50%
Looking For: Post-production money
(co-producer), Distribution, Sales Agent,
Festival premiere
CONTACT PERSON
Tony Copti, Producer
FRESCO FILMS
T: +972 544 822255
W: www.landofthelittlepeople.com
SYNOPSIS
Four young kids who live in a village for military officers’ families form a small gang. An old abandoned army
base, located in the surrounding wild fields, turns into their camp. Another war begins in Israel and most men
are drafted to serve their country. The mothers are sitting worried in front of the televisions, listening to the
constant news reports, while the kids, with no one to supervise them, return to their camp in the wild. To their
surprise, they discover two soldiers who deserted from their units, using their camp as a hideout. The children
try to regain control over their stolen territory, but the soldiers hold their grounds. A ruthless struggle develops
between the groups, and the soldiers, who sought refuge from the war outside, find themselves in another war,
which turns to be just as dangerous and bloody.
Yaniv Berman, film director
The Alpha Diaries, doc, 2007
Zagreb FF
Helsinki Documentary FF
Singapore Independent Documentary FF
Jerusalem Cinematheque
Documentary Madrid
Even Kids Started Small, short, 2006
Cannes FF–Cinefondation
Bangkok IFF
Montpellier Mediterranean FF
Festival du Nouveau Cinéma de Montréal
Haifa IFF
Tony Copti, producer
54
Born in Haifa, Israel, Yaniv Berman is a graduate student from the film and television department at Tel-Aviv
University.
The Last Day
Romania
Production Company: GREEN FILM
Director: Gabriel Achim
Screenwriters: Gabriel Achim,
Cosmin Manolache
Cast: Mimi Brănescu, Doru Ana,
Adrian Văncică, Adrian Ciglenean,
Rodica Lazăr
Producer: Gabriel Achim
Delegate producer: Dan Burlac
Duration: 106’
Looking For: Post-production funds,
Partners
SYNOPSIS
The devil used to tempt people, nowadays he doesn’t even bother. He just shows them the way and wishes
them a “safe journey!”
CONTACT PERSON
Gabriel Achim, Producer
GREEN FILM
T: +40729550304
W: www.greenfilm.ro
Adalbert’s Dream, feature, 2011
Reykjavik IFF–Official Competition
Tallinn IFF–Special Mention
Sofia IFF–Official Competition
Romanian Film Industry Awards–Gopo Award for Best feature debut
Bric Brac, short, 2009
Berlin FF
Karlovy Vary IFF–Fresh Film
Capalbio Cinema ISFF
Mons IFF
Porto IFF
As a child he suffered from an illness called humility (poor thing!). Now, as a result of that wretched illness,
he tyrannises amateurs and dreamers by giving to the youngest of them long speeches about life’s hidden
dangers.
Gabriel Achim, film director/producer
55
That Trip We Took With Dad
(working title)
Germany, Romania, Hungary, Sweden
Production Company: FILMALLEE GMBH
Director: Anca Miruna Lazarescu
Screenwriter: Anca Miruna Lazarescu
Cast: Alex Margineanu, Susanne Bormann,
Razvan Enciu, Ovidiu Schumacher
Producer: David Lindner Leporda
Key Partners: Strada Films (Romania),
Mirage Films (Hungary), Chimney (Sweden),
Bayerischer Rundfunk/Arte (Germany/France)
Distribution Company:
Movienet (Germany),
Strada Film International (Romania)
Production Stage:
Post production (final cut)
Duration: 106’
Looking For: World Sales, Festival Premiere,
Post-production and Financing
CONTACT PERSON
David Lindner Leporda, Producer
FILMALLEE GMBH
T: +49 89 64 98 11 16
W: www.filmallee.com
SYNOPSIS
That Trip We Took with Dad (WT) is a moving story and it plays out in a turbulent year, in 1968. With the Prague
Spring setting the scene for the film, a German family from Arad (Romania), two very different brothers and their
father, start a journey towards the GDR. There, the older brother hopes that his weary father will be able to have
surgery and thus the family harmony will be restored. But after they cross the East German border, their way back
is closed by Soviet tanks moving into the CSSR. Suddenly, the family finds itself in West Germany and our protagonists
are faced with a universal question: How many sacrifices can one take to reunite with one’s family?
The film participated in the Balkan Script Development Fund 2010 winning the Balkan Fund Award.
Silent River, short, 2011
International Student Festival Beijing China-Outstanding International Student Film Award
Québec Short Film Festival–Grand Prix
FICBueu Festival Internacional de Bueu–Grand Prix, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Film Editing, Best Sound
Curtas Vila do Conde IFF–Audience Award and Prize RTP2 Onda Curta
Festival International du Cinéma Méditerranéen de TétouanPrix du Jury
Lille European Short FFGrand Prix
Anca Miruna Lazarescu, film director
One Day Today Will Be Once, short doc, 2009
Syracuse International Film Festival–Best short documentary award
The Secret of Deva, short doc, 2007
CRONOGRAF International Documentary Film Festival–Grand Prix
Sehsüchte, Potsdam–Best Emerging German Film Award
Trieste Film Festival–Audience Award
Born in Timisoara, Romania, Anca Lazarescu immigrated with her family to Germany in 1990. She studied
directing at the German Academy for film and television in Munich and directed several films which attracted
international interest. Her graduation film, Silent River, premiered at the International Competition of the
Berlinale Shorts and won over 80 awards worldwide. She is a member of the European and the Romanian Film
Academy. That Trip We Took with Dad (Wt) is her first feature film
56
David Lindner Leporda, producer
Voevoda
Bulgaria, Croatia
SYNOPSIS
Forced to leave home and her child, Roumeno becomes a fighter, a woman, voevoda, leader of a rebellious gang
in the brutal men’s world of the 19th century. She struggles to defend her female nature against the male
routines and for that she is perceived as a demon. Based on a true story and character.
Production Company: MQ PICTURES
Director: Sophia Zornitsa
Screenwriter: Zornitsa Sophia
Cast: Valeri Jordanov, Zornitsa Sophia,
Vladimir Zombori, Petar Genkov,
Leart Dokle, Dimitar Selenski,
Jordan Bikov
Producer: Zornitsa Sophia
Key Partner: Focus Film (Croatia)
National Film Center (Bulgaria),
Yariv Lerner, Nu Boyana Film (Bulgaria),
Dream Team Films (Bulgaria), Nova TV
Production Stage: Finished shooting
Duration: 115’
Looking For: Gap financing for the
post-production, Festival premiere and
Distributors for Russia,
Ukraine and Croatia.
World Sales: Millennium Films,
USA except for Russia, Ukraine,
Croatia and Bulgaria
Forecast, feature, 2008
Golden Rose Bulgarian FF–Academica Award I Mannheim-Heiledberg IFF I Cairo IFF I Sofia IFF I Goa IFF
Modus Vivendi, doc, 2006
Sofia IFF
Death and All the Way Back, doc, 2005
Sofia IFF I Sarajevo FF I Berlin festival for TV films
Mila from Mars, feature, 2005,
Sarajevo FF–Best Film and Special Jury Award
Mannheim-Heidelberg IFF–Fassbinder Award and Ecumenical Jury Award
Golden Rose Bulgarian NFF–Best Film, Best Actress, Best Debut, Journalists' Award and Best Directorial Debut
Sofia Film Festival–Kodak Award for Best BG film I Thessaloniki International Film Festival
CONTACT PERSON
Sophia Zornitsa, Producer
MQ PICTURES
T: + 35 9897334505
W: www.zornitsasophia.com
Zornitsa Sophia has a master in fine arts, a major in painting, is an alumni of NAFA, Sofia and has studied in the
School of Visual Arts, New York and the American University, Washington DC. At the age of 22, she restored, together
with the prisoners, a church in the biggest male prison in Bulgaria. For 4 years she has been an art director in
advertising agencies, while taking part in over 60 visual art festivals and exhibitions around the world with video
art, installations, actions and paintings. She specialized in directing under the supervision of academic Lyudmil
Staykov at the NAFTA. Sofia for her graduation and debut film Mila from Mars received great reviews, 16 awards,
was the Bulgarian submission for the Academy awards and a box office hit. It was followed by the feature length
documentary Death and All the Way Back, Modus Vivendi and her second feature film Forecast. Sophia has directed
17 episodes in 5 TV series: Kantora Mitrani (2011), Where Is Magi (2012), Home Arrest (2012), Sex, Lies and TV
(2013), Tree of Life (2013). She has staged successfully the awarded play When the Rain Stops Falling by Andrew
Bovel. Voevoda is her third and most personal film.
Sophia Zornitsa,film director/producer
present at the Agora WiP
57
AGORA FILM MARKET
7-14 NOVEMBER 2015
The Agora Film Market promotes the majority of the
feature films participating in the official sections of the
56th TIFF and the latest film productions from Central
Europe, the Mediterranean and the Balkans.
Also includes the previous films of Crossroads
participants, as well as a selection of Greek films
produced within the past two years.
Agora Film
Market
Film Market
3:30 is a film about a robbery by three men and a woman. Due to a
lack of trust among them, their plan ends up in a fiasco.
317
03:30 14'
Hussen IBRAHEEM, Lebanon 2012
Production Company
The Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts
Hussen Ibraheem
T. +96 171 855 131
[email protected]
Crossroads Previous Film
During a night shift, an emergency ambulance with a team of three,
a doctor, a paramedic and a driver, is called to an old man’s apartment.
The event will change their lives forever. A drama with social connotations, suspense, black humour and a touch of a psychological
thriller.
216
03.ByPass 90'
Nap TOADER, Romania 2015
Production Company
Clandestino Production
Corina Stavila
T. +40 722 339 162
[email protected]
Film Market
Arnulfo Rubio, a young gun trafficker between the United States
and Mexico, is being followed by ATF agent Hank Harris. After a risky
mistake by Harris, Rubio makes a desperate decision: he smuggles
the agent to Mexico. And while these two apparent enemies will
slowly connect, they reach a dangerous place. And the only way out
will be by trusting each other.
268
600 Miles 84'
Gabriel RIPSTEIN, Mexico 2015
World Sales Company
NDM
Fiorella Moretti
T. +33 626 100 765
[email protected]
Official Selection
Two passengers transform a daily bus ride into a love affair of desire
and longing before the bus, and maybe the affair, reach the end of
the line.
304
807 11'
Alexandros SKOURAS, Greece 2012
Production Company
Alexandros Skouras
T. +30 6938 311 241
[email protected]
61
305
Film Market
Athens, Christmas 2012. A man finds a Christmas tree in the garbage.
Abies 3'
Production Company
Alexandros Skouras
T. +30 6938 311 241
[email protected]
255
Aferim! 108'
In 19th century Romania, Costandin (50), a policeman of the time,
and his son Ionita (15) travel through the south of the country in
search of a fugitive Gypsy slave.
Radu JUDE, Romania-Bulgaria-Czech Republic 2015
World Sales Company
Beta Cinema GmbH
Cosima Finkbeiner
T. +49 89 67 34 69 823
[email protected]
Official Selection
188
After Spring Comes Fall 93'
Daniel CARSENTY, Germany 2015
Production Company
Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf
Cristina Marx
T. +49 33 1620 2564
[email protected]
The film is about a Syrian woman coming as a refugee to Germany,
living as an immigrant under difficult conditions. The Syrian security
service finds her and forces her to work as an informer, spying on
the members of the Syrian opposition in Europe.
The film deals with the questions of how far a person can be pressured
to betray his/her ideals and at what point does resistance start.
Film Market
136
Agnes 100'
Johannes SCHMID, Germany 2015
World Sales Company
Pluto Film Distribution Network
Jana Wolff
T. +49 30 21 918 220
[email protected]
Film Market
62
Walter is planning to write a book about German entrepreneurs. On
a spring day he meets Agnes. She proposes that he writes a story
about her. Their love story begins, and they experience wonderful
days until Walter gets irritated, because Agnes follows the picture
he draws of her in real life. This initially ignites their passion, but
after a while things change. Walter discovers that there can only be
one ending to his story – but this ending could cost Agnes’s life.
Film Market
The “manager” of a pancake stall finds himself confronted with an
odd but likeable elderly lady looking for work. A taste of her homemade bean jelly convinces him, starting a relationship that is about
much more than just street food.
280
An 113'
Naomi KAWASE, France-Japan-Germany 2015
World Sales Company
MK2
Anne-Laure Barbarit
T. +33 1 44 67 31 11
[email protected]
Official Selection
Anna leaves her hometown of Athens to live with her boyfriend in
Glasgow: a new life that triggers traumatic memories. But as her
life descends into violent paranoia, Anna realizes that one of her
new co-workers holds the key to her past in Greece, influencing her
to stay, at the risk of her sanity.
210
Anna Unbound 89'
Bernd PORR, UK 2015
Production Company
Eigen Productions
Bernd Porr
T. +44 7840 340069
[email protected]
Film Market
In which Scheherazade tells of the restlessness that befell the country:
“It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that in a sad country among
all countries, where people dream of mermaids and whales, and
unemployment is spreading. In certain places, forests burn into the
night despite the falling rain; men and women long to set out to
sea in the middle of Winter. Sometimes there are animals that talk
although it is highly improbable that they are listened to. In this
country, where things are not what they appear to be, men of power
promenade on camels and hide permanent and shameful erections;
they await the moment when taxes are collected so they can pay a
certain wizard whom...” And seeing the morning break, Scheherazade
fell silent.
221
Arabian Nights - Volume I,
The Restless One 125'
Miguel GOMES,
Portugal-France-Germany-Switzerland 2015
World Sales Company
The Match Factory GmbH
Michael Weber
T. +49 221 539 709 0
[email protected]
Official Selection
In which Scheherazade tells of how desolation invaded men: “It hath
reached me, O auspicious King, that a distressed judge will cry instead
of giving out her sentence on a night when all three moons are
aligned. A runaway murderer will wander through the land for over
forty days and will teletransport himself to escape the Police while
dreaming of prostitutes and partridges. A wounded cow will reminisce
about a thousand-year-old olive tree while saying what she must
say, which will sound none less than sad! The residents of a tower
block in the suburbs will save parrots and piss inside lifts while surrounded by dead people and ghosts; including in fact a dog that...”.
And seeing the morning break, Scheherazade fell silent.
222
Arabian Nights - Volume II,
The Desolate One 131'
Miguel GOMES, Portugal-France-Germany-Switzerland
2015
World Sales Company
Michael Weber
T. +49 221 539 709 0
[email protected]
Official Selection
63
223
Arabian Nights - Volume III,
The Enchanted One 125'
Miguel GOMES, Portugal-France-Germany-Switzerland
2015
World Sales Company
Michael Weber
T. +49 221 539 709 0
[email protected]
Film Market
In which Scheherazade doubts that she will still be able to tell stories
to please the King, given that what she has to tell weighs three
thousand tons. She therefore escapes from the palace and travels
the kingdom in search of pleasure and enchantment. Her father, the
Grand-Vizier, arranges to meet her at the Ferris wheel and
Scheherazade resumes her narration: “O auspicious King, in old
shanty towns of Lisbon there was a community of bewitched men
who, with all dedication and passion, devoted themselves to teaching
birds to sing...” And seeing the morning break, Scheherazade fell
silent.
Official Selection
105
Arise 85'
Petros PENATOS, Greece 2015
Production Company
Nikel Productions
Petros Nicolaides
T. +30 6933 350 393
[email protected]
In a society that is divided between the life in the streets and the
city of luxurious comforts, an insurance broker begins searching for
his ex-girlfriend after anunexpected invitation by her, though he
hasn’t seen her for years. At the same time, inflation and economic
changes start to strike the middle class. Αccidental events or a vicious
conspiracy?
Film Market
232
Arventur 80'
Irina EVTEEVA, Russia 2015
World Sales Company
ANT!PODE Sales & Distribution
Elena Podolskaya
T. +7 499 978 7314
[email protected]
Arventur is a dilogy about an imaginary land that is magically visited
by the films’ characters.
The first part is based on Alexander Grin’s story Fandango. It takes
place in Saint Petersburg in 1921, where the main character’s spiritual
quests lead him into a marvellous, unreal world.
The second part, called “The Mystery of the Sea View” is based on a
Daoist parable about a great Chinese artist and the Emperor.
Film Market
163
Baba 65'
George INCI, Germany-Morocco 2014
Production Company
Inci Pictures Filmproduction
George Inci
T. +49 171 264 0141
[email protected]
Film Market
64
An old musician tells the story of his life through his music. A young
mother gives birth to twins.
She knows that she only can feed one of them and has to decide.
She gives her milk to the healthier one and tries to find other solutions
for the thinner brother.
But sometimes life has other plans...
Film Market
Ten-year-old Nori and his father Gezim earn their living by selling
cigarettes in pre-war Kosovo of the nineties. Gezim will hear nothing
of Nori’s mother. He is an expert at escaping the past and now he
wants to flee Kosovo without Nori. But the boy tries everything in
his means to prevent his dad from leaving. An accident results. The
shocked father takes Nori to the hospital. When Nori gets out, his
father is gone. Angry, yet determined, Nori sets out on a perilous
journey and indeed finds his father in Germany. With the persistence
only a child can have, he confronts his father with leaving him behind.
205
Babai 104'
Visar MORINA,
Germany-UNMI Kosovo-FYROM-France 2015
World Sales Company
Heretic Outreach
Ioanna Stais
T. +30 210 600 5260
[email protected]
Official Selection
A thriller about a young street kid couple from Pittsburgh (Jack and
Sam), saving up cash to go to Germany, to get lost in the electronic
dance music scene that they love. Things don't turn out as expected
though. Jack wakes up dazed and confused after a rave, Sam is gone
and Jack lacks most of his memories of the last rave. A group of German street kids decide to help Jack to look for Sam. Together they
go on a wild ride of drugs, raves, and parties, and discover things
they did not want to discover.
193
Bad Trip 90'
Michael ANTON, Germany 2015
Production Company
ena Film GmbH
Alex Jovanoski
T. +49 172 654 7536
[email protected]
Film Market
17-year-old Naama Barash enjoys alcohol, drugs and hanging out
with like-minded friends. Her activities are an escape from a home
where her parents always fight, and a rebellious, army-enrolled
sister, who, one day, disappears. As a new girl shows up at school,
Barash falls deeply in love for the first time, and the intensity of the
experience at once confuses her and gives her life new meaning.
288
Barash 85'
Michal VINIK, Israel 2015
World Sales Company
m-appeal
Torsten Schulze
T. +49 30 6150 7505
[email protected]
Film Market
Sara lives in her private prison controled by his father, a retired
military fascist. The arrival of Joseph, a Jewish university professor,
to the flat is a new hope for Sara but her father will do anything to
finish their relationship.
In this story, the Jewish professor represents the arrival of culture
and the joy of living to a house where the darkness of fascism still
prevails. And despite the tragic outcome, fascism will not defeat
hope and the desire to live.
196
Behind the Door 73'
Pere SOLÉS, David GIMBERNAT, Spain 2015
Production Company
DDM VISUAL SL
Pere Solés
T. +34 61 537 7585
[email protected]
Film Market
65
174
Bestfriends 84'
Jonas GROSCH, Carlos VAL, Germany 2014
World Sales Company
Résistefilm
Jonas Grosch
T. +49 172 320 6035
[email protected]
Film Market
Susi Q loves to travel. To dance. To get drunk.
She loves women. She loves her best friend. She loves life!
And now all that should suddenly change? Because she’s getting
“too old”?
Take responsibility... Settle down with someone... Live a normal
life... Like everyone else?
Not Susi Q!
Film Market
229
Beyond Here 72'
Hugo BOUSQUET, Belgium 2015
World Sales Company
Elena Podolskaya
T. +7 499 978 7314
[email protected]
Basile and Lea walk across mountains. They rob every shelter and
hut found on the road, carrying off whatever they find. They seek to
reach Gondolin. Basile hopes to cross the pass before winter but Léa
is exhausted. A comfortably equipped refuge with significant reserves
of food, firearms and ammunition, allows them some rest. After a
few days Basile wants to leave. But while she appropriates the place,
Léa tries to delay their departure.
Film Market
201
The Bicycle 82'
Arne KORNER, Germany 2015
Production Company
Against Reality Pictures
Arne Körner
T. +49 176 8201 3843
[email protected]
Mark and Antonia have a long-distance relationship. They are meeting
in Paris on vacation. Antonia is from Canada and speaks no German
and Mark speaks no English. Communication problems are a natural
consequence, their last time together was a long time ago. Their vacation in Paris is a final attempt to salvage the deadlocked relationship. Mark living in Hamburg is an amateur filmmaker and takes his
Bolex film camera along. He doesn’t want to miss out on the summer
in Paris.
Film Market
213
Billion Star Hotel 92'
Alecs NASTOIU, Romania 2015
Production Company
gat films Transilvania
Ovidiu Vasu
T. +40 7420 0252
[email protected]
Film Market
66
A little homeless boy learns how things are going in real life from
his mentor, Papa Rudi.
Film Market
For Cathy, it is not always easy to be born on February 29th, especially
when for her birthday, her father gives her an egg to hatch. But it is
probably less difficult than to be suffering from myopathy like her
best friend Margaux...
130
Birds of Passage 84'
Olivier RINGER, Belgium 2015
World Sales Company
Attraction Distribution
Xiaojuan Zhou
T. +32 2 344 0785
[email protected]
Official Selection
Pierre, a theater director, wants his production of The Robbers to be
a huge success. But when his leading lady, Julia, fails to live up to all
his expectations, he tries everything to bend her to his will. And
then there is Julia’s boyfriend, Manuel, who decides to boycott Pierre’s
entire production.
225
The Bittersweet Taste of Power 70'
Jan GALLI, Germany 2015
Production Company
Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg
Martin Rohé
T. +49 163 262 8721
[email protected]
Film Market
Bruno, in his thirties, is young but suffers from a bad illness. He
doesn't believe in anything. In the end, what remains of our beliefs
in a material and often-dehumanized world? These beliefs take
shape in the film in different forms: to believe in the other, to believe
in a mystic dimension, to believe in possible redemption and, finally,
to believe in the illusion of cinema.
172
Black Lake 72'
Jean-Baptiste GERMAIN, France 2015
Production Company
La Vingt-Cinquième Heure
Pierre-Emmanuel Le Goff
T. +33 760 388 964
[email protected]
Film Market
Greece. A seaside resort plagued by a terrible heat wave.
Water is scarce and violence is ready to explode.
Ashraf, a solitary immigrant, guards a French family’s villa while
they are away.
In this dry land, crushed by the sun, he is stopped by a policeman
for an I.D. check...
278
Blind Sun 88'
Joyce A. NASHAWATI, Greece-France 2015
Production Company
Blonde S.A.
Fenia Cossovitsa
T. +30 210 608 0650
[email protected]
Official Selection
67
139
Blue Blood 119'
Lírio FERREIRA, Brazil 2014
World Sales Company
Picture Tree International
Moritz Kleine Bornhorst
T. +49 304 2082 4816
[email protected]
Film Market
Living in an idyllic island paradise, ten-year-old Pedro is separated
from his sister Raquel because their mother fears a forbidden attraction between the siblings. Against his will, the boy is sent away
to the mainland where he joins a traveling circus. Growing up among
a colorful family of circus performers, Pedro transforms into a legendary figure called “Zolah, the Cannon Man”. On a circus tour, Zolah
– now grown into a handsome and seductive man – returns to the
mystical island he was forced to leave behind. Trying to reconnect
with his past, he longs for the forbidden love of his lost childhood.
Official Selection
285
A Brazilian coroner learns that the dead do tell tales.
Body 90'
Malgorzata SZUMOWSKA, Poland 2015
World Sales Company
Memento Films International
Sata Cissokho
T. +33 153 349 033
[email protected]
Official Selection
228
Bopem 77'
Zhanna ISSABAYEVA, Kazakhstan 2015
World Sales Company
Elena Podolskaya
T. +7 499 978 7314
[email protected]
Rayan is a 14-year-old teenager. He lives alone in the territory of
the dried Aral Sea. He used to have a lovely mother. When Rayan
was five, his mother died. Rayan is missing his mother and still goes
to the former beach, but there he sees sand instead of water and a
rotten ship.One day, Rayan is told at a hospital that he is sick with a
life-threatening disease. There is a cure, but little chance that Rayan
receives quota for free surgery from the state.
Film Market
264
Box 94'
Florin ȘERBAN, Romania-France-Germany 2015
World Sales Company
Michael Weber
T. +49 221 539 709 0
[email protected]
Official Selection
68
Under the pretext of a love story, Box unfolds a coming-of-age narrative. Rafael and Cristina are two people who were never supposed
to meet. He is 19, a Gypsy, working in a car-wash and wanting to
make it big as a boxer; he lives with his grandfather, and he is about
to have a breakthorugh as an athlete. She is 34, Hungarian, an actress
in the local theater, married, and going through a professional and
personal crisis; her husband is the star of the theater ensemble and
it seems that she has been living in his shadow for a while.
Film Market
A young student finds a home with a family living in the forest
where he takes on the responsibility of teaching the young Klaus.
Unable to cope with the high expectations of his parents, Klaus has
no time to play or enjoy being a child and stands up to his domineering parents. As the situation threatens to spiral out of control,
Der Bunker creates a world of its own, somewhere between an absurd
comedy, a horror film, a melodrama and a B movie, reminiscent of
early David Lynch and Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
145
The Bunker 85'
Nikias CHRYSSOS, Germany 2015
World Sales Company
Film Republic
Ines Skrbic
T. +44 203 287 9112
[email protected]
Film Market
This is a story about a man, driven to despair, who is being transformed into a beast. This is an effort to investigate what a person
can stand, what tortures and indignities he can overcome, how many
people he can kill for the sake of saving one...
214
Captum 84'
Anatoliy MATESHKO, Ukraine 2015
Production Company
Oleksandr Itygilov & Anton Sladkevych productions
Anton Sladkevych
T. +380 667 404 038
[email protected]
Film Market
Soldiers with a mysterious sleeping sickness are transferred to a
temporary clinic in a former school. The memory-filled space becomes
a revelatory world for housewife and volunteer Jenjira, as she watches
over Itt, a handsome soldier with no family visitors. Jen befriends
young medium Keng who uses her psychic powers to help loved
ones communicate with the comatose men. Doctors explore ways,
including colored light therapy, to ease the mens’ troubled dreams.
Jen discovers Itt’s cryptic notebook of strange writings and blueprint
sketches. There may be a connection between the soldiers’ enigmatic
syndrome and the mythic ancient site that lies beneath the clinic...
266
Cemetery of Splendor 122'
Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL,
UK-Thailand-France-Germany-Malaysia 2015
World Sales Company
Michael Weber
T. +49 221 539 709 0
[email protected]
Official Selection
In Heaven, scribes are busy writing scenarios for all of mankind, dictating everyone’s upcoming destiny. Celestial tea server Chasuke
never misses a chance to catch up on some of the latest chapters,
especially those about Yuri, on whom he has a secret crush. But
when he discovers that the writers accidentally kill her off, he decides
to break the rules and go down to Earth to save her. But nothing
goes according to plan, since nothing has been prewritten for him...
160
Chasuke's Journey 106'
Sabu, Japan 2015
World Sales Company
Films Boutique
Valeska Neu
T. +49 30 6953 7850
[email protected]
Film Market
69
332
Chevalier 99'
Athina Rachel TSANGARI, Greece 2015
World Sales Company
Michael Weber
T. +49 221 539 709 0
[email protected]
Film Market
In the middle of the Aegean Sea, on a luxury yacht, six men on a
fishing trip decide to play a game. During this game, things will be
compared. Things will be measured. Songs will be butchered, and
blood will be tested. Friends will become rivals and rivals will become
hungry. But at the end of the voyage, when the game is over, the
man who wins will be the best man. And he will wear upon his little
finger the victorious signet ring: the “Chevalier.”
Official Selection
270
The Chicken 15'
Una GUNJAK, Germany-Croatia 2014
As a present for her 6th birthday, Selma gets a live chicken. When
she realises the animal is going to be killed to feed the family, she
decides to save it and set it free, unaware of the high stakes such action will lead to. While trying to bring back the missing chicken,
Selma’s mum becomes the target of a sniper. It's Sarajevo 1993.
World Sales Company
Salaud Morisset
Emma Silhol
T. +49 152 3767 4084
[email protected]
Official Selection
165
Children 100'
A child with a flickering helmet, an escape from prison, a friendship
between a boy and a canary, a trip to the sea. A film about the relationships between parents and children.
Jaro VOJTEK, Slovakia 2014
World Sales Company
MPhilms
Mátyás Prikler
T. +42 194 420 1190
[email protected]
Official Selection
240
Chronic 92'
Michel FRANCO, France-Mexico 2015
World Sales Company
Wild Bunch
Esther Devos
T. +33 1 4313 2115
[email protected]
Official Selection
70
A home care nurse works with terminally ill patients.
Film Market
Live. Love. Dance. Now! Young Mae roams the streets of Vienna as a
punk in her dead brother's Converse shoes. She lives on canned beer,
sprays walls, tries her hand at poetry slams. She’s not interested in
bourgeois life but in stronger experiences. When she is sent to an
AIDS center to work off a punishment, she meets and falls in love
with Paul. Chucks tells the featherlight story of growing up between
life and death. Full of humor, at times rebelliously loud, then extremely tender.
286
Chucks 93'
Sabine HIEBLER, Gerhard ERTL, Austria 2015
Production Company
Dor Film
Ulrike Ladenbauer
T. +43 1 427 1018
[email protected]
Official Selection
After leaving prison, Tomáš goes back to his former lonely life. He
watches TV, listens to his neighbors squabbling through the wall
and calls his mother for routine conversations. He is a funeral service
worker, a “cleaner”: he goes to homes from which dead bodies have
just been removed and cleans them up. One day, something breaks
the boredom and predictability of his daily life.
253
The Cleaner 94'
Peter BEBJAK, Slovak Republic 2015
Production Company
DNA Production
Rasto Sestak
T. +421 905 946 692
[email protected]
Film Market
A space-ship is lost in space, carrying a small team of scientists who
no longer know, probably due to an over-long cryogenization period,
where they are, where they’re going, or where they’ve come from.
244
Cosmodrama 115'
Philippe FERNANDEZ, France 2015
World Sales Company
Wide Management
Loic Magneron
T. +331 4489 9974
[email protected]
Film Market
Alonso is a skater who goes across Spain with the skate as his only
means of transport. The road will force him to meet with characters
that will change his life and they will discover the reason why Alonso
has gone on this curious and strange trip.
164
Crossing the Sense 99'
Iván FERNANDEZ DE CORDOBA, Spain 2015
World Sales Company
Digital 104 Film Distribution
Jonay García
T. +34 616 834 890
[email protected]
Film Market
71
120
Cruel 101'
Eric CHERRIERE, France 2015
Film Market
Pierre Tardieu is a part-time worker living in an old house with his
sick father. No one is aware of his existence. Pierre is a serial killer.
His victims are ordinary people with ordinary lives. Men and women
living, working and suffering side by side yet apart, forming together
a crowd lost in a big city...
World Sales Company
Wide / Eye on Films
Gaëlle Simonetti
T. +33 1 5395 0464
[email protected]
Film Market
134
The Culpable 95'
Gerd SCHNEIDER, Germany 2015
World Sales Company
Jana Wolff
T. +49 30 21 918 220
[email protected]
“Someone is blackening our name! Shit sticks if there’s enough of
it!” Jakob Voelz, Catholic minister at a state penitentiary would be
more than happy to believe this statement as his hieratical colleague
and best friend Dominik Bertram is arrested under suspicion of sexual
abuse. Yet, what Jakob is beginning to suspect but doesn't want to
know, becomes a crucial test for his faith and his self-conception as
a priest: There is a truth we welcome and there is a truth we fear,
about which we tend to fall silent. As Jakob begins to turn against
that silence within the church, he is taught a lesson – the church is
a mother, and one does not hit a mother. But finally Jakob must
raise his hand...
Film Market
208
The Cypress Deep Down 75'
Nikos KORNILIOS, Greece 2015
Production Company
Nikos Kornilios
Evgenia Papageorgiou
T. +30 6977 082 977
[email protected]
She comes into your life and finds the details / of your past of your
body / of your everyday habits / Life without this merciful presence
/ has no meaning anymore – and suddenly / she leaves and life has
no meaning... Mourning / lasts for a while and if you survive – which
you will / you start recounting again the same details / from the
past, releasing your body on another body, sharing your every day
again / You learn from this repetition / You learn to ignore / the certainty of your gestures / You learn to ignore / the impressive architecture of a meaningful life.
Official Selection
290
Daddy 89'
Gerald McCULLOUCH, USA 2015
World Sales Company
m-appeal
Torsten Schulze
T. +49 30 6150 7505
[email protected]
Film Market
72
Colin McCormack thinks he has it all – a great job, a stream of hot
young guys, and a best friend whose devotion he takes for granted.
When a charming intern sweeps Colin off his feet, his lifelong friendship is put to the test. In the intern, Colin sees his chance to start a
family, but what he comes to discover may cost Colin everyone –
and everything – he holds dear.
Film Market
“Far off / Beyond forbidden lands Emerges / The soul / Of a child /
That blossomed / From the powdered earth / Of ancient villages. /
This lightness of Perception / Bears the image / Unveiled and new, /
With an effortless shot / On the trails of Chance. / And now this
cabinet / Of curiosities / And questions / Is illuminated / With a
flicker / Of hidden memories.”
A poem by Martine Desmonceaux, who plays herself in the movie
(Marina’s mother)
156
The Departure 74'
Julia BEN CHETTRIT, France 2015
Production Company
Autoproduction
Julia Ben Chettrit
T. +33 678 276 672
[email protected]
Film Market
A young American writer falls for a Russian hustler and introduces
him to his alternative lifestyle amongst Berlin’s queer and underground scenes, but as they make their hedonistic journey through
clubs and parties, their inner desires reveal themselves.
181
Desire Will Set You Free 92'
Yony LEYSER, Germany 2015
World Sales Company
Wavelength Pictures
John Flahive
T. +44 7968 772 792
[email protected]
Film Market
After her mother decides that eighteen-year-old mentally disabled
Dora no longer has to take sedatives, the young woman begins to
blossom. But when pleasure-loving Dora discovers her sexuality, her
quest for independence becomes increasingly risky. To her mother’s
horror, Dora has a spontaneous sexual encounter with a dubious
man who is obviously taken with the young girl’s uninhibited sensuality. As this encounter turns into a secret liaison, Dora’s parents
struggle to protect their vulnerable child…
114
Dora or The Sexual Neuroses
of Our Parents 90'
Stina WERENFELS, Switzerland-Germany 2015
World Sales Company
Wide / Eye on Films
Gaëlle Simonetti
T. +33 1 5395 0464
[email protected]
Film Market
Drifters is a social drama thriller about street pusher Minna’s struggle
for survival. After cheating some local dealers, she finds refuge at
an illegal residence where junkies, thieves and exiles dictate their
own way of living. The temporary peace is broken when Minna’s adversaries find her trail, setting of a chain of events with dangerous
consequences. Drifters is an intense and deeply captivating look at a
woman’s life and survival on society’s margins.
260
Drifters 92'
Peter GRONLUND, Sweden 2015
World Sales Company
Michael Weber
T. +49 221 539 709 0
[email protected]
Official Selection
73
184
Escapes 88'
Film Market
The journey of a woman who has lost her family. A tour of her
feelings. Showcase your imagination. A succession of large and small
adventures.
Mercedes GASPAR, Spain 2014
Production Company
La Fragua Audiovisual sl
mercedes Gaspar
T. +34 646 718 356
[email protected]
Film Market
276
Eva Doesn't Sleep 85'
The embalmed corpse of Eva Peron is taken to various cities throughout Europe before returning to her home in Argentina, where it is
ultimately abducted.
Pablo AGUERO, Argentina-France 2015
World Sales Company
Pyramide International
Agathe Mauruc
T. +33 1 42 960 101
[email protected]
Official Selection
155
Eva Nová 85'
Marko ŠKOP, Slovakia 2015
Eva would do anything to regain the love of the one she hurt the
most – her son. She is a recovered alcoholic but decades ago she
was a famous actress.
World Sales Company
LOCO FILMS
Florencia Gil
T. +33 7 62 994 919
[email protected]
Official Selection
104
The Face of the Ash 87'
Shakhwan IDREES, Iraqi Kurdistan 2014
Production Company
M studio production
Shakhwan Idrees
T. +96 4750 340 9733
[email protected]
Film Market
74
During the Iraqi-Iranian war which started in 1980 and lasted for
eight years, a Muslim family in a Kurdish village receive from the
government the corpse of their son who was killed in the war. While
they are preparing for the funeral, they discoverd that the corpse is
not circumcised and they question its identity. Once they tell their
Christian neighbor's about it, the problem becomes bigger because
each family claims that the body is theirs.
Film Market
In 2001, during the peaking political turmoil in Turkey, Emine(25),
an electrical engineer, starts working on a construction site in Istanbul
where mostly Kurdish workers are employed. She gradually assumes
a hostile attitude against the workers. Ayşe (8), the daughter of a
Kurdish family in a southeastern village, witnesses her family being
forced to leave their land by Turkish local authorities. This nested
story of Emine and Ayse is about getting stuck between one’s social
surroundings and conscience.
312
The Fall From Heaven 88'
Ferit KARAHAN, Turkey 2013
Production Company
Fk Film
Ferit karahan
T. +90 533 663 3373
[email protected]
Υiorgos and Sophia are trying hard to cope with their financial problems and the needs of their two children. The grandfather helps
them out with his pension since the family business, a small grocery
store, does not provide them with enough income.
When the grandfather suddenly dies in his sleep, they decide to
keep it a secret for as long as they can so as to continue collecting
the money from his pension. But things become more complicated
when officers from the social security department start looking for
the grandfather.
179
Family Member 104'
Marinos KARTIKKIS, Cyprus 2015
Production Company
HOMEMADE MOVIES
Marinos Kartikkis
T. +357 99 311 031
[email protected]
Official Selection
On a small island, a saint is about to be canonized by the church. His
icon has no face. According to local lore, one night the saint stepped
out of the icon, visited the fair and scandalized the believers. He
was ashamed of his behaviour and never returned.
190
Fate 97'
Andreas MARIANOS, Greece 2015
Production Company
System Media Art- SMART
Stavros Meleas
T. +30 6936 246 348
[email protected]
Official Selection
Bollersdorf is average. Its citizens take great pride in being average 108
and go to great lengths to remain average. The children of Bollersdorf
have had a bellyful of average and with the help of their pet coati Fiddlesticks 82'
they set about freeing their grandparents from the local old folks’ Veit HELMER, Germany 2014
home. A hilarious caper ensues, to create a new world record, put
Production Company
Bollersdorf on the map and make it a centre of technology.
Veit Helmer-Filmproduktion
Veit Helmer
T. +49 30 217 7777
[email protected]
Official Selection
75
273
A Fine Day for Bananafish 26'
Stefan MALESEVIC, Serbia 2014
Production Company
Gonella Productions
Mariana Ortega
T. +387 6524 2051
[email protected]
Film Market
A Kosovo war veteran is having a hard time readjusting to his life
after returning from the service. He and his wife, both from Serbia,
try to rescue their broken marriage by taking a vacation to beautiful
Lake Ochrid, FYROM, but there is little compassion and trust left
after his erratic episodes. His wife's mother is worried for her safety
and advises her to come back home. He spends most of the time
alone at the beach, where he meets a young girl who could give a
different perspective to his otherwise dark view of this world.
245
France Is a Gas 86'
Benoit FORGEARD, France 2015
France, 2020. President Bird's éminence grise Michel Battement must
urgently get the head of state’s popularity ratings up to avert the
looming fall of the regime. Deep in the cluttered basement of the
Elysée Palace, he organizes a secret consultation with the greatest
minds in the land.
World Sales Company
Ecce Films
Josephine Avril
T. +331 4489 9974
[email protected]
Film Market
326
French Blood 97'
Diastème, France 2015
It’s the story of a Frenchman, born in 1965, on the outskirts of Paris.
The story of a skinhead, who hates Arabs, Jews, blacks, communists
and gays. An anger that will take thirty years to die out. A bastard,
who will take thirty years to become someone else. And he will
never forgive himself for it.
World Sales Company
Indie Sales
Martin Gondre
T. +33 1 4483 0227
[email protected]
Official Selection
261
Frenzy 117'
Emin ALPER, Turkey-France-Qatar 2015
World Sales Company
Michael Weber
T. +49 221 539 709 0
[email protected]
Official Selection
76
Istanbul is in the grip of political violence. Hamza, a high-ranking
police officer offers Kadir a conditional release from prison. To be released, he has to agree to work in the new intelligence unit of
garbage collectors. Kadir accepts, and starts collecting trash from
the shanty towns, checking to see whether it contains material
related to bomb-making. Kadir finds his younger brother Ahmet in
one of those neighborhoods. Ahmet works for the municipality as
part of a team responsible for destroying stray dogs. Ahmet’s unwillingness to bond with Kadir as brothers, in spite of Kadir’s insistance, lead Kadir to plot conspiracy theories to explain Ahmet’s distance.
Film Market
John (Reynor) lives with his mother, Jean (Collette), in a social
housing suburb and ekes out a meager living as a nighttime taxi
driver. John returns home one morning to find his mother unconscious
from an alcohol overdose. Jean violently rejects John’s attempts to
help, as well as his intentions to unite the family. When Jean is
offered an opportunity to recover, with no savings or insurance, John
is forced to offer his services to a criminal to help pay for his mother’s
rehab. John is faced with a life-changing task that may alter him
and his family's lives forever.
147
Glassland 89'
Gerard BARRETT, Ireland 2014
World Sales Company
Kaleidoscope Film Distribution
Rosie Flynn
T. +44 203 397 4410
[email protected]
Official Selection
Golden Kingdom is a narrative feature film about four orphan boys,
all novice monks, living in a Buddhist monastery in a remote part of
Northeast Burma. The head monk departs on a long journey from
which he may never return, leaving the boys alone in the middle of
the forest.
Once the boys are on their own, strange, magical events begin to
occur. Orphan Witazara realizes he must protect the three other boys
throughout this series of bizarre events, which threaten to unravel
the fabric of the young monks’ reality.
116
Golden Kingdom 103'
Brian PERKINS, USA 2015
World Sales Company
Wide / Eye on Films
Gaëlle Simonetti
T. +33 1 5395 0464
[email protected]
Film Market
The setting is a small Montenegrin village, in the summer of 1968.
It was the time of building the essential infrastructure throughout
Yugoslavia, and the goal, specificaly in Montenegro, was to connect
the poor north to the south of the country. The village is visited by a
land surveyor, who will prepare the necesary documentation for the
route of the future road. He is accompanied by his beautiful wife,
Klara, a ballet dancer from Novi Sad. We follow the reactions of the
villagers at their arrival, especially with regard to Klara, and their
willingness to corrupt the surveyor, and do basicaly anything so that
the road bypasses their land. And that is one line of the story.
194
Gorcilo - Did You Come to See Me 100'
Milan KARADZIC, Serbia 2015
Production Company
Vision Team
Iva Vukmirovic
T. + 381 11 201 9829
[email protected]
Film Market
Christina wakes up every morning listening to Mozart’s “Gran Partita”.
In the apartment next door lives Anna. Until then the two neighbors
merely exchanged greetings. On that day, in the elevator, they start
talking about the “Gran Partita”.
303
Gran Partita 15'
Production Company
Alexandros Skouras
T. +30 6938 311 241
[email protected]
77
248
The Grief of Others 103'
Patrick WANG, USA 2015
Film Market
Based on Leah Hager Cohen’s critically acclaimed novel, a family
struggles with a tragic loss when an unexpected visitor arrives. She
stirs the pain of past betrayals but might also offer an unforeseen
gift: a way out of their isolating grief.
Production Company
Vanishing Angle
Matt Miller
T. +33 1 4489 9974
[email protected]
Film Market
234
Gruber Is Leaving 104'
Marie KREUTZER, Austria 2015
Production Company
Allegro FilmproduktionsGmbH
Felix Müller
T. +43 1712503616
[email protected]
John Gruber is in his mid-thirties, an egocentric, living life in the
fast lane and sparing no expense. But all of a sudden he is thrown
off track by a cancer diagnosis and by the person who unwillingly
delivers the news: Sarah, a DJane from Berlin, who is not his type at
all. Feelings just aren’t Gruber’s cup of tea and now, without having
asked for them, he has more than ever before…
Official Selection
233
The Gulls 87'
Ella MANZHEEVA, Russia 2015
World Sales Company
Elena Podolskaya
T. +7 499 978 7314
[email protected]
Elza the fisherman’s wife lives in a seaside town in Kalmykia. She
wants to leave her husband but cannot take this step because she is
afraid of uncertainty.
Suddenly, her husband dies. Because of his death, Elza has to think
everything over and reconsider her views on life, on happiness, on
liberty…
Film Market
119
Happy 97'
Jordan GOLDNADEL, France 2015
World Sales Company
Wide / Eye on Films
Gaëlle Simonetti
T. +33 1 5395 0464
[email protected]
Film Market
78
Florent, 23, is an upper class Parisian who dreams of going back to
America, where he attended college. One summer he meets Alessia,
an American girl, lost in the streets of Paris. Together and with
random encounters while on a journey from Paris to Normandy, they
explore their passions, which draws them closer as well as brings
up their clashing differences.
As they face a crucial crossroad in their lives, they will uncover new
sides of themselves, struggling to determine who they are personally,
professionally and sexually, while trying to break free from their upbringings.
Film Market
On her 40th birthday, Elia gathers together a few select relatives
and friends at a luxury country house to tell them some extraordinary
news: she has won a jackpot of €140,000,000! From that moment
onwards, the atmosphere becomes increasingly tense and what
started off as shared happiness, gradually transforms into greedy
plotting to take Elia’s fortune.
322
Happy 140 98'
Gracia QUEREJETA, Spain 2015
World Sales Company
LATIDO FILMS
Francesca Perin
T. +34 9 1548 8877
[email protected]
Film Market
A family of nomads live in the high, remote mountains of Kyrgyzstan
in Central Asia; elderly herdsman Tabyldy, his wife Karachach, their
daughter-in-law Shaiyr and their 7-year-old granddaughter Umsunai.
Shaiyr’s son is studying in the city and visits them only during the
summer holidays. The family breed horses and life goes on as normal
amidst the beautiful scenery of the mountain gorge. But then another
resident of the area appears in Shaiyr's life, meteorologist Ermek,
whose weather station is located near to the family's home.
135
Heavenly Nomadic 81'
Mirlan ABDYKALYKOV, Kyrgyzstan 2015
World Sales Company
Jana Wolff
T. +49 30 21 918 220
[email protected]
Film Market
In grainy VHS footage from a childhood that has since become youth,
Heavens reflects, in a dark and poetic way, on the fragile relationship
between young Sashka and her parents. The historical gulf between
former Yugoslavia and today’s Belgrade is also a generation gap.
And those who were children during and after the war that constantly
rumbles outside the frames of the image, have now themselves become adults with a need to define and form their own identity and
future. Sashka is one of them. Past and present (and possibly future)
cross paths.
131
Heavens 20'
Jelena MAKSIMOVIC, Ivan SALATIC,
Serbia-Montenegro 2014
Production Company
Non-Aligned Films
Jelena Maksimovic
T. +381 69 3165487
[email protected]
Official Selection
Former Eastern German boxing champ Herbert is now a hard-up
bouncer and debt collector. After a training session, Herbert suddenly
collapses with spasms of pain but chooses to ignore the signs. When
his physical deficiencies become more and more apparent, Herbert
finally sees a specialist who ultimately diagnoses him with a fatal
neural disease. With not much time left, Herbert struggles with himself and the hard outer shell he’s cultivated over time. Not many
things really matter to him apart from his ‘lost’ daughter Sandra,
whom he abandoned when the family fell apart. Now a mother herself, Sandra is still deeply hurt and afraid of allowing her dying
father to be a part of her life again.
254
A Heavy Heart 111'
Thomas STUBER, Germany 2015
World Sales Company
Moritz kleine Bornhorst
T. +49 30 4208 2480
[email protected]
Official Selection
79
198
Hey 90'
Alex JOVANOSKI, Germany 2015
Production Company
ena Film GmbH
[email protected]
T. +49 1 726 547 536
[email protected]
Film Market
Gambling debts force broke Leo to break into Ella’s apartment, a
young woman and aspiring artist who has just been diagnosed with
a devastating disease. Lonely and desperate as they are, an odd
bond forms between the two which will change both lives for good.
*Note: -Some of the music is only temporary and will be
replaced/changed in the final movie.
- The movie is still in post production, especially sound post-production and sound design and will be finnished around the end of
this year.
Film Market
113
Hide and Seek 86'
Joanna COATES, United Kingdom 2015
World Sales Company
Wide / Eye on Films
Gaëlle Simonetti
T. +33 1 5395 0464
[email protected]
In an isolated English cottage, four young people from London move
in together, seeking to challenge social conventions and their own
tolerances by engaging in scheduled partner-swapping. As their inhibitions and past traumas fade, they achieve a unique kind of collective happiness but the durability of their new living arrangement
is tested by the arrival of an outsider, who fails to get in tune with
the foursome’s radical spirit.
Film Market
154
The High Pressures 84'
Angel SANTOS, Spain 2014
World Sales Company
MÁRGENES DISTRIBUCIÓN
AnnaMaria Scaramella
T. +34 653 973 635
[email protected]
With the commitment of registering some locations for a film, Miguel
travels to his hometown. During his stay, he will try to complete his
work even though he would rather film the natives he meets, the
movements and faces of his friends, the trains passing by or the sea.
His trip will offer a new perspective on his situation and also the
chance for new love. A journey around the uprooting (the cinema)
and love.
Film Market
127
The High Sun 123'
Dalibor MATANIC, Croatia-Slovenia-Serbia 2015
World Sales Company
Cercamon World Sales
Sebastien Chesneau
T. +97 1566 06 3824
[email protected]
Official Selection
80
Three different love stories, set in three consecutive decades, in two
neighboring Balkan villages burdened with a long history of interethnic hatred: this is a film about the dangers – and the enduring
strength – of forbidden love.
Film Market
Susana Le Marchand, 63, a lonely housewife ignored by her wealthy
husband and
alienated by their social milieu, hires a new maid, Hilda. Hilda’s presence at the house suddenly triggers an identity crisis in Mrs. Le Marchand and makes her reevaluate her life. She begins remembering
her revolutionary past and questions her luxurious but empty present.
In the meantime, her dependency on Hilda grows slowly and becomes
an obsession. An obsession that, in the end, will come at a high
price.
289
Hilda 88'
Andrés Clariond RANGEL, Mexico 2014
World Sales Company
m-appeal
Torsten Schulze
T. +49 30 6150 7505
[email protected]
Film Market
One day the factory in the village of Hirschen, where almost everyone
works, closes. Most of the inhabitants move away. Only a few people
decide to stay. They try to find a solution that would offer them the
possibility to stay in their beloved Hirschen. Suddenly, very close to
the village, a car crashes into a deer. The village people take very
good care of the slightly injured driver. He lives in the butcher's
hotel, the doctor examines him, the mechanic repairs his car, the
policeman settles all the papers and the major shows him the whole
village, leading the friends to a strange but lucrative idea...
162
Hirschen 126'
George INCI, Germany-Austria 2015
Production Company
Inci Pictures Filmproduction
George Inci
T. +49 171 264 0141
[email protected]
Film Market
Jessica, an ambitious cello student, moves into a new flat with her
boyfriend Lorenz. When she receives the honorable invitation to represent Germany in an international contest for classical music, it
seems to be her great opportunity – but at the same time an enormous pressure. In her home, Jessica starts preparing meticulously
for the contest. However, her own four walls don’t appear to shelter
her as Jessica finds herself increasingly exposed to small and major
anonymous harassments. What is the neighbor’s involvement, who
mysteriously pries behind half-closed curtains?
115
Homesick 98'
Jakob M. ERWA, Germany 2015
World Sales Company
Wide / Eye on Films
Gaëlle Simonetti
T. +33 1 5395 0464
[email protected]
Film Market
Johannes Lepsius is an influential theologian, who acts on behalf of 297
German missionaries. In order to stop the Ottoman “deportation”
policy regarding Armenians, he visits Enver Pasha, the most powerful Homo Politicus 20'
general of Turkey. Halfway through their meeting, the atmosphere Haci ORMAN, Turkey 2015
changes and a philosophical, intellectual wordy warfare, which
sometimes feels like chess and sometimes a boxing match, ensues. Production Company
Praksis Film
Hacı Orman
T. +90 534 517 5058
[email protected]
81
123
Honey Night 89'
Ivo TRAJKOV, FYROM 2015
Production Company
Kaval Film
Robert Jazadziski
T. +389 2 244 7107
[email protected]
Film Market
It’s the night of the national holiday and a wedding anniversary for
Nikola, deputy Minister, and his wife Anna. Returning home from a
gala reception hosted by the Prime Minister, they start to experience
their biggest marriage crisis yet. Anna starts a quarrel as Nikola has
forgotten their anniversary. Obsessed with the current political scandal and the arrest of a minister, Nikola fears he might be arrested
too. After a long, turbulent night, he reconciles with his destiny and
awaits his arrest.
Official Selection
202
Hopefuls 75'
Ives ROSENFELD, Brazil 2015
Hopefuls tells the story of Junior, a young soccer player in an amateur
team. He has to deal with the pregnancy of his girlfriend, while his
best friend since childhood signs a contract with a professional team.
Hopefuls will follow the growing of Junior’s envy, till it takes on dangerous proportions.
World Sales Company
Figa Films
Sandro Fiorin
T. +55 21 9930 74619
[email protected]
Official Selection
291
How to Win at Checkers
(Every Time) 80'
Josh KIM, Thailand-Hong Kong-USA-Indonesia 2015
World Sales Company
m-appeal
Torsten Schulze
T. +49 306 150 7505
[email protected]
On the morning of the annual military draft lottery, Oat reflects on
his childhood, to the time when his older brother Ek faced the same
exercise. While the parents of his wealthy boyfriend are able to maneuver their son out of the draw, Ek, part of the lower class, has no
options. Unable to convince his brother to do whatever he can to
change his fate, young Oat takes matters into his own hands, resulting
in unexpected circumstances.
Film Market
294
How to Win Enemies 78'
Gabriel LICHTMANN,
Argentina-Cuba-Germany-Switzerland 2015
World Sales Company
m-appeal
Torsten Schulze
T. +49 306 150 7505
[email protected]
Film Market
82
Lucas, a modest, young Jewish lawyer with a penchant for detective
stories, meets the beautiful Bárbara in a café. Sexy, independent,
and with good taste in literature, she seems perfect, and Lucas, enthralled, takes her home after their first date. Things aren’t always
what they seem, however, and Lucas wakes up to find his savings,
and Bárbara, gone. Determined to find her, Lucas sets off like the
hero in one of his beloved books, and, as he pieces together the
puzzle of the grand theft, he realizes that his closest allies may be
his biggest foes.
Film Market
Katharina and Steffen have well-paying jobs, a loving relationship
and a spectacular apartment. And yet they long to break from the
predictability of their lives. One night, they decide on a radical change
– to extinguish all traces of their existence so they can start all over.
They begin to destroy their apartment, empty their bank accounts
and erase the digital remnants of their lives. But just as everything
breaks into pieces, their secretive revolution becomes a fight for
their love.
241
Icons of Light 81'
Christian Moris MULLER, Germany 2015
Production Company
Christian Moris Müller Filmproduktion
Christian Moris Müller
T. +40 151 2115 8810
[email protected]
Film Market
Sotiris is a financial editor at a local newspaper, living a mundane
life until he locks eyes with the gorgeous Olga at a Russian expat
Christmas party. Unable to get her out of his head, he starts looking
for the girl of his dreams only to find himself immersed in a dark
and dangerous world, where illusion and reality will soon be made
abundantly clear. With Zenia Kaplan as the proverbial femme fatale,
Savvas Karidas explores the twin concepts of escape/dream and
dead-end/deceit. It's a film about contemporary credit crunch societies and their effect on relationships and attitudes, imposing a new
moral order where love and friendship are tested, redefined and demystified.
Two sisters in their early thirties find themselves isolated in the
Aegean summer cottage of their childhood, as they must deal with
their uneasy sibling relationship and confront their devastating
recent past.
218
Illusion 90'
Savvas KARYDAS, Greece 2014
Production Company
Michael Panayiotopoulos
T. +30 6944 933 280
[email protected]
Official Selection
316
The Impeccables 95'
Ramin MATIN, Turkey 2013
Production Company
Giyotin Film, Karavan Film
Emine Yıldırım
T. +90 532 646 1907
[email protected]
Totally disconnected from his past and memory, the Passenger tries
to define himself, confronted by his pre-determined fate, a fate that
he has to re-live upon every anniversary of his death.
187
Impressions of a Drowned Man 82'
Kyros PAPAVASSILIOU, Cyprus-Greece-Slovenia 2015
Production Company
DRYTREE FILMS
Kyros Papavassiliou
T. +35 797 855 893
[email protected]
Official Selection
83
177
In the Kitchen 80'
Spyros AMIROPOULOS, Greece 2015
Production Company
One Touch
Spyros Amiropoulos
T. +30 6936 809 371
[email protected]
Film Market
Six different couples, in six different kitchens, in six different acts /
certain times of their relationships, share a life which could have
been the life of one couple alone. This common thing that everyone
shares with each other, unites and separates us – the couples of
one certain place and the whole world in one common, as well as, a
different experience. The thing we have in common in the stories of
our relationships.
Official Selection
227
In Your Arms 88'
Samanou A. SAHLSTROM, Denmark 2015
Maria is a young and caring nurse who wants to break free. Niels is
an incurable patient who wants to travel to Switzerland to commit
assisted suicide. Together they embark on an intense journey that
will bring them closer to each other but also closer to their dreams.
World Sales Company
Elena Podolskaya
T. +7 499 978 7314
[email protected]
Official Selection
107
Inches from the Ground 120'
Maxim GENCHEV, Bulgaria 2015
Production Company
Amrita Art
Dr. Zlatina Filipova
T. +359 887 963 283
[email protected]
A border post in Bulgaria, 1954. The mind of little Michael is full of
kaleidoscopic panoramas of naïve Socialism, Balkan Stalinism and
the Cold War. His father is a strong lieutenant with his own ideas of
duty and lofty heroism. His mother, in her dream of Chanel perfume,
mixes up family honor with the pink wings of her youth, locked up
in the barracks. The happy saga of people fulfilling their duty to
their country is suddenly overshadowed by a saboteur and a series
of tragic events.
Film Market
186
Inside 92'
Mirko ABRLIC, Jelena MARKOVIC, Serbia 2015
Production Company
Evropski Blok
Jelena Marovic
T. +38 164 212 3259
[email protected]
Film Market
84
Jovan, a student from the provinces, starts serving his one year
prison sentence in a Special Prison Hospital, in the department for
addicts. Jovan plans to serve quietly and to go back to his student
life, but inside, he gets cought in a web of unwritten rules and
convicts’ relations.
A small group of convicts formed around dealer Mare imposes rules
on the block. The scheme of drug dealing is revealed. Pressure on
Jovan grows, as truth breaks out on his shoulders.
Film Market
Two young men meet, one Italian the other Rumanian, and travel
together through the city of Rome. We follow their journey from
the lifeless suburbs to the inert ruins of the ancient city as they
struggle against the loneliness and silence that surrounds them.
Both of them wander the city from side to side seeking redemption,
deliverance, or maybe just a hideout. In their search they’ll reach
the sea, the flesh of a young prostitute, but they’ll find what they’re
looking for in the feeling that bonds them together.
279
Inside Rome 28'
Francesco COSTABILE, Italy 2005
Production Company
CSC PRODUCTION
T. +39 340 868 8481
[email protected]
A post-modern theater adaptation of a classic Greek tragedy takes
place in a central theater in Athens. Like they do every night, the
members of the audience take their seats and the play begins. Suddenly, the lights go out and the stage is dark. A group of young
people, dressed in black and carrying guns, come up on stage. They
apologize for the interruption and invite people from the audience
to join them on stage. The play resumes with one main difference:
life is now imitating art, and not the other way around.
310
Interruption 110'
Yorgos ZOIS, Greece-France-Croatia 2015
World Sales Company
EZ Films
Ray Meirovitz
T. +33 953 698 094
[email protected]
Official Selection
Aris is a 38-year-old lonely guy working in a factory. When he gets
fired without any warning, he is shocked. As his attempts to be rehired fail, he feels the ground falling out from beneath his feet. Aris
gradually becomes obsessed with the idea of revenge. He buys a
gun with the last of his money, when his ex-wife dumps their 6year-old son on him.
256
Invisible 80'
Dimitri ATHANITIS, Greece 2015
World Sales Company
Greek Film Centre
Iliana Zakopoulou
T. + 30 210 3678 500
[email protected]
Official Selection
Vicenc is a politician with major aspirations, married to Carmen. She
is unhappy with their marriage and lives obsessed with having children. A young boy who was a part of their lives fifteen years ago
starts a process that will destroy Vicenc both professionally and personally.
148
The Invisible Artery 119'
Pere VILÀ BARCELÓ, SPAIN 2015
Production Company
Eddie Saeta SA.
Noelia Gomez
T. +34 934 677 040
[email protected]
Film Market
85
251
Ivy 103'
Tolga KARAÇELIK, Turkey 2015
Film Market
Ivy is set to sail to her loading port in Egypt to carry goods to Angola.
As she is sailing south, the owner company, who has not been able
to pay salaries to the crew members for quite sometime, goes bankrupt. The captain and everyone else on board learns that there is a
lien on the ship and they are not allowed to dock or call the port.
Production Company
Karaçelik Film
Bilge ELif Özköse
T. +90 533 459 8747
[email protected]
Official Selection
239
Ixcanul - Volcano 90'
Jayro BUSTAMANTE, Guatemala-France 2015
World Sales Company
Film Factory Entertainment
T. +34 933 684 608
[email protected]
María, a 17-year-old Kaqchikel Maya, lives with her parents on a
coffee plantation at the foot of an active volcano. She is set to be
married to the farm's foreman. But María longs to discover the world
on the other side of the mountain, a place she cannot even imagine.
And so she seduces a coffee-harvester who wants to escape to the
USA. When this man leaves her behind, María discovers her own
world and culture anew.
Official Selection
143
Jack 95'
Elisabeth SCHARANG, Austria 2015
World Sales Company
Moritz kleine Bornhorst
T. +49 304 2082 4816
[email protected]
Official Selection
274
A Journey to Village Lane 75'
Panagiotis PAPADOPOULOS, Greece 2014
Production Company
Panagiotis Papadopoulos
T. +30 6934 007 231
[email protected]
Film Market
86
One winter’s night a girl freezes to death after suffering brutal injuries.
Jack is convicted of her murder. When released from prison 15 years
later, he becomes an acclaimed writer and well-known ladies’ man,
and Vienna’s society celebrates his example of successful social rehabilitation. But questions arise when more and more prostitutes
are being found dead. Can a man change that fundamentally? From
murderer of a woman to ladykiller, from jailbird poet to society
darling – Jack Unterweger was the talk of the town in early 1990s
Vienna. His suicide following the conviction for multiple murder left
many questions unanswered, and 20 years later, his story has not
lost any of its mystery. Focusing on the enigmatic title character,
Elisabeth Scharang (In Another Lifetime) presents a breath-taking
and haunting psychograph.
A group of friends encounter an obstacle.A decision must be made
and a journey begins, to another era.
As the mosaic of events unfolds, we are led to a past which seems
so near and familiar that it actually still exists. The simple yet forgotten
issues of life, as experienced in an organized society, are revealed to
us in the form of an adventure.
We are gently guided towards a confrontation of the various difficulties, which will lead us to insight and the realization that we
know nothing about the different forms of reality found in life in
the village, and in all of us.
A journey towards another reality – a journey to Village Lane.
Film Market
Juan is a child who doesn’t have any friends. La Nube is a cloud who
doesn’t have any cloud friends. They find each other and become
friends. However, Juan grows up and gets lost in the grey adult
world.
272
Juan and the Cloud 14'
Giovanni MACCELLI, Spain 2014
World Sales Company
Madrid en Corto
Ismael Martin
T. +34 915 121 060
[email protected]
Official Selection
Justino, a miner who is sick of the social and economic situation,
decides to become a vigilante group.
199
Justice&co 86'
Ignacio ESTAREGUI, Spain 2014
World Sales Company
Freak Independent Film Agency
Chloe Marbehan
T. +34 927 248 248
[email protected]
Film Market
Barra da Tijuca, West Side Zone of Rio de Janeiro. A wave of murders
plague the area. What starts off as morbid curiosity for the local
youth slowly begins to eat away at their lives. Among them is Bia, a
fifteen-year-old girl. After an encounter with death, she will do anything to make sure she stays alive.
333
Kill Me Please 101'
Anita ROCHA DA SILVEIRA, France 2015
World Sales Company
MPM Film
Hippolyte Lykavieris
T. +33 674 736 791
[email protected]
Film Market
Klezmer is a realistic and allegorical story about a journey through
wartime Land of Evil. It is set during World War II in the Polish countryside, although away from the front. It seems that nothing has
changed there and life goes on just like before the war. However,
people carry the war in their hearts and souls…
192
Klezmer 93'
Piotr CHRZAN, Poland 2015
Production Company
Human Power
Aleksandra Zakrzewska
T. +48 50 446 8180
[email protected]
Film Market
87
133
Koza 75'
Ivan OSTROCHOVSKY,
Slovak Republic-Czech Republic 2015
World Sales Company
Jana Wolff
T. +49 30 21 918 220
[email protected]
Film Market
Peter “Koza” Baláž is struggling to make ends meet. Miša learns that
she is expecting a child and decides to terminate her pregnancy. She
pressures Koza to get money for the procedure. Koza, who has not
trained in a while, steps back into the ring, hoping to earn some
much-needed cash and possibly change Miša’s mind. He and his
manager, Zvonko, embark on a “tour”, where success is not measured
in victories, but in the amount of blows that Koza can take.
Official Selection
207
Land and Shade 97'
César ACEVEDO, Colombia 2015
World Sales Company
Agathe Mauruc
T. +33 1 42 960 101
[email protected]
Alfonso is an old farmer who has returned home to tend to his son,
who is gravely ill. He rediscovers his old house, where the woman
who was once his wife still lives, with his daughter-in-law and grandson. The landscape that awaits him resembles a wasteland. Vast
sugar cane plantations surround the house, producing perpetual
clouds of ash. Seventeen years after abandoning them, Alfonso tries
to fit back in and save his family.
Official Selection
230
Land of Oz 100'
Vasiliy SIGAREV, Russia 2015
World Sales Company
Elena Podolskaya
T. +7 499 978 7314
[email protected]
Film Market
171
Laputa 95'
Jakub SMID, Czech Republic 2015
Production Company
Cineart TV Prague, Ceska televize (Czech TV)
Jitka Prochazkova
T. +420 261 137 438
[email protected]
Film Market
88
A magic New Year’s story about a girl, Lenka Shabadinova, full of incredible events, unexpected meetings, spontaneous confrontations
and fairytale solutions of emotional conflicts. It is an ironic and a
philosophically conceptual eccentric comedy about ‘a girl in a city’.
It tells the adventures of a modest salesgirl trading in trifles in a
mysterious country – modern Russia;
in a mysterious city – modern Yekaterinburg;
in mysterious time – in our time;
in a mysterious season – the Urals New Year;
among incredible creatures – her own fellow countrymen endowed
with Siberian health;
surrounded by phantasmagoric trees – Christmas trees, both living
outdoors and brought home...
Johanka (27) spends all of her time in her café Laputa. Men come
here and leave again. Miki, a poet, leaves for Turkey with Johanka’s
sister; Johanka’s old flame Felix returns from distant travels, forms a
band and then flies off again to Puerto Rico, where he gets married.
Futility stares out at Johanka from every beer mug and so she turns
the café into a massage parlour. Apparently nothing has changed,
but the cards say it clearly: she should take a look at her life from a
distance and realise that this is me, this is my home and this is my
family.
Film Market
Rex is a cab driver who has never left Broken Hill in his life. When he
discovers he doesn’t have long to live, he decides to drive through
the heart of the country to Darwin, where he’s heard he will be able
to die on his own terms; but along the way he discovers that before
you can end your life you’ve got to live it, and to live it you’ve got to
learn to share it...
212
Last Cab to Darwin 123'
Jeremy SIMS, Australia 2015
World Sales Company
Films Distribution
Sanam Madjedi
T. +33 153 103 399
[email protected]
Official Selection
Pierre is one of the plantation managers pouring chemicals into the
poor region of Misiones. In love with a young militant, he will try to
step back. But with the social war going on, you can’t switch sides
so easily.
110
La Tierra Roja 104'
Diego MARTINEZ VIGNATTI,
Belgium-Argentina-Brazil 2015
World Sales Company
LATIDO FILMS
Francesca Perin
T. +34 915 488 877
[email protected]
Official Selection
David Miller wants to die and chooses assisted euthanasia. He’s
planned everything: the place, the time and the manner. However,
nothing goes right. With Esperanza, a member of the association,
and Tréplev, a young prostitute, David embarks on his ultimate night
with total strangers.
247
La Vanité 75'
Lionel BAIER, France-Switzerland 2015
World Sales Company
Wide Management
Loic Magneron
T. +33 1 4489 9974
[email protected]
Film Market
The late 80s. Idols of the past are staggering in Algeria as in the rest
of the world. Socialism is in its death throes. Algeria is importing
new idols. Which one will win out? IMF-inspired capitalism? Or
Afghan-style Islamism? For Nouredine, a civil servant with literary
aspirations, there is only one idol to be challenged: his mother.
Nouredine will marry the beautiful Yasmina under maternal orders
and have a child, Kamel. Soon after this, everything goes wrong:
first his marriage, then the whole country that stumbles into violence
under Islamist pressure. Nouredine and Yasmina will try to make
their way in a society that is collapsing, under absurdity and into Islamist fanaticism and barbarity...
320
Let Them Come 95'
Salem BRAHIMI, France-Algeria 2015
Production Company
KG Productions
Michèle Gavras
T. +33 1 4972 0666
[email protected]
Official Selection
89
106
Levski 130'
Maxim GENCHEV, Bulgaria 2015
Production Company
Amrita Art
Dr. Zlatina Filipova
T. +359 887963283
[email protected]
Film Market
While in Europe free personality triumphs, an empire in the East is
in agony. When slaves do not realise that they are enslaved… One
is chosen to bear the cross of his enslaved people: Levski. Levski is a
classic tale about the life and death of the greatest Bulgarian revolutionary Vasil Levski. The story starts in 1841, during the darkest
period of the Turkish yoke.
Film Market
330
Light Years 85'
Esther May CAMPBELL, UK 2015
World Sales Company
Michael Weber
T. +49 221 539 709 0
[email protected]
Rose reckons a family’s like a constellation – all connected, hanging
up there, in the infinite. Stars can feel each other, even if some died
millions of years ago. Even if they’re light years apart. Over the course
of one long day, as mum wills her children closer, Rose’s fractured
family pulls back into its constellation. Aching to reconnect they
find themselves facing the true implications of their own devastating,
inherited legacy.
Official Selection
295
Like Cattle towards Glow 93'
Dennis COOPER, Zac FARLEY,
Germany-France-USA-Canada 2015
World Sales Company
Raspberry&Cream
Torsten Schulze
T. +49 306 150 7505
[email protected]
The film is a complex, intimate, strangely serene, wide-ranging, and
always challenging exploration of sexual desire as a hiding place. In
these unique, stylistically and temperamentally diverse scenes, each
one featuring its own set of characters and storyline, sex makes a
promise of something so intense and untenable to the characters
that they feel they must enter it in secret – through an act of violence,
or under the guise of an unrelated transaction, or by rationalizing
its dangers away with the help of politics, or through utilizing it remotely as material for a purely aesthetic project.
Film Market
231
Little Bird 90'
Vladimir BEK, Russia 2015
World Sales Company
Elena Podolskaya
T. +7 499 978 7314
[email protected]
Film Market
90
When does your childhood go away?
It goes away when instead of playing football with other kids you
sit down and silently contemplate the river. When your thoughts
don’t let you sleep, and a lightning bug beats in a pot like a heart.
When poems come into your mind and you feel you really need to
sing.
It goes away when you suddenly realize: this summer is going away
and it is the last summer of your childhood.
Film Market
One morning Joel finds his wife’s dog Elvis half dead. This forces him
out of his home, something he has avoided for a long time. After
forgetting his keys inside, he’ll spend the day desperately trying to
get back into his flat, his shelter.
282
The Long Way Home 85'
Sergi PEREZ, Spain 2014
Production Company
NIU d'INDI
Aritz Cirbian
T. +34 667 007 290
[email protected]
Official Selection
Grace, 16, runs away from home. Her parents, Dan and Denise, head
off on the road across the Western Australian wheat belt with a
retired detective, Norris, to try and get her back. But life unravels
faster than they can put it back together. Grace, Dan and Denise
learn that life is confusing and arbitrary, but wonderful. Looking for
Grace is about how we make sense of the mess of our lives and what
it all means. It is a wry drama about lies, secrets, small and large
griefs and love.
315
Looking for Grace 97'
Sue BROOKS, Australia 2015
World Sales Company
Fortissimo Films
Nelleke Driessen
T. +31 206 273 215
[email protected]
Official Selection
In the search of Karmen, the camera travels to Seville during the
fiesta of April. The camera is fascinated by the local dresses, the
dancing, the fun of the people of Seville, like Jose and Escamillo are
fascinated by Karmen.
Karmen can be found everywhere on the land of Seville in reality
and in dreams. She is a timeless symbol of passion...
309
Looking for Karmen 64'
Aggelos THEODOROPOULOS, Greece 2015
Production Company
Aggelos Theodoropoulos
T. +30 210 382 8258
[email protected]
Film Market
From the bowels of Vesuvius, Pulcinella, a foolish servant, is sent to
present-day Campania to grant the last wish of Tommaso, a simple
shepherd: he must rescue a young buffalo called Sarchiapone. In
the Royal Palace of Carditello, an abandoned Bourbon residence in
the heart of the 'Land of Fires' whose remains were looked after by
Tommaso, Pulcinella finds the young buffalo and takes him towards
the north. The two servants, man and beast, embark upon a long
journey throughout a lost and beautiful Italy, at the end of which
they will not find quite what they had expected.
331
Lost and Beautifull 87'
Pietro MARCELLO, Italy 2015
World Sales Company
Michael Weber
T. +49 221 539 709 0
[email protected]
Official Selection
91
219
Louder Than Bombs 109'
Joachim TRIER, Norway-France-Denmark 2015
World Sales Company
Memento Films International
Sata Cissokho
T. +33 1 5334 9033
[email protected]
Film Market
Three years after her unexpected death, the preparation of an exhibition celebrating the famous war photographer Laura Freed brings
her husband and their two sons together for the first time in years.
When an unsettling secret resurfaces, the three men are forced to
look at each other and themselves in a new light, redefining their
innermost needs and desires. A rich picture of the family’s dreams,
disappointments and secrets is gradually developed through nonlinear fragments of shared memories, daily challenges and strained
attempts to coexist.
Official Selection
175
Love Me! 80'
Philipp EICHHOLTZ, Germany 2014
World Sales Company
daredo media GmbH
Andreas Stumpf
T. +49 621 1228 5835
[email protected]
Sarah spent the night with her best friend but he’s not on the same
page as her regarding their relationship. Stupidly enough, her laptop
is broken. But maybe the guy from the computer store can fix it? Or
maybe he can fix her life altogether? He is trying to do both and
Sarah lets him, because behind her loud and impulsive façade she
has a big desire for love. However, she tests the limits of what this
blooming relationship could take, how many arguments she can
have with her father or how much she can party in Berlin’s night
life.
Film Market
203
Lovestruck 90'
Thodoris ATHERIDIS, Greece 2014
Production Company
VIEW MASTER FILMS
Effie Skrobola
T. +30 210 641 1992
[email protected]
Antonis is a firefighter, living in Piraeus. The story begins two days
before his wedding to Natassa, a nurse, when Anna, his ex-girlfriend,
visits him out of the blue. The old flame is still going strong. Antonis
will not bail out of his wedding with Natassa, even though Anna is
obviously very keen to restart the relationship. Things get more complicated when Antonis starts a “double life” in his own home. What
will happen when Anna shares the same space with Natassa?
Official Selection
150
L'ultimo Tango - Spaghetti Noir 112'
Giuseppe IACONO, Italy 2015
Production Company
Giuseppe Iacono
T. +39 339 180 0560
[email protected]
Film Market
92
Alberto Tango is the owner of a small and shabby detective agency
on the outskirts of Naples. Tango lives by his wits, often on the edge
of legality, to repay the huge debt that he has incurred with the
cynical Rava, his former employer and current creditor. Tango receives
a call from Sergio Tudisco, an important industrialist. He wants to
hire him to find his daughter Olga, a rebellious girl who has run
away. Tudisco gives Tango the sum that would solve his problems
with Rava. Tango accepts after a brief hesitation. There is not much
time and the pressure is high, so occasionally Tango sees God in person... and talks with him! Maybe stress? The epilogue is to be discovered.
Film Market
Omar, an unstable and lonely teenager, lives in a slum in the suburbs
of Mostaganem. He is addicted to a well-known psychotropic drug,
nicknamed “Madame Courage”: Artane tablets, very popular among
young Algerians, for their euphoric effect of invincibility. Omar is a
specialist in snatching. One morning, he goes downtown to commit
his usual crimes. His first prey is a young girl called Selma, walking
with her friends, prominently wearing a gold necklace. As he commits
his larceny, their eyes meet.
281
Madame Courage 89'
Merzak ALLOUACHE, Algeria-France 2015
Production Company
Baya films
Merzak Allouache
T. +33 6 0805 7148
[email protected]
Official Selection
French-Italian Madeleine and her teenage sister Sophie spend the
summer vacation at their paternal Grandmother in the North of Italy.
Their parents are divorced. Their father lives in the busy city, where
his job precludes him from visiting the girls, while the mother is on
holiday with her new boyfriend. The girls’ daily life in the countryside,
filled with the desire to see their father, is spiced up by a mysterious
peacock, whose sound they often hear. One day, Granny Adriana
feels sick. The worried grandchildren call for a doctor, who shows
far more interest in Sophie, instead of the Grandmother. The girls
become frightened. To protect her sister, brave little Madeleine
pushes the doctor down the stairs. The girls, unsure if the man has
died, run off to look for their father. Only when they find him do
they realize, that apart from having to tell him what really happened,
the broken family has a lot to make up for.
167
Four actors (plus their annoying friend) wait in an old house for a
drama teacher to arrive and lead them in a workshop. At some point
they get hungry and buy five portions of beans from a nearby restaurant – but the beans lead to comical hallucinations and weird goings-on, allowing them to resolve their personal issues in unexpected
ways.
103
Madeleine 93'
Lorenzo CEVA VALLA, Mario GAROFALO,
Italy-Hungary 2015
Production Company
Amego Film
Andrea Osvárt
T. +36 304 247 389
[email protected]
Film Market
The Magic Beans 101'
Theo PANAYIDES, Cyprus 2015
Production Company
Theo Panayides
T. +357 99 322 106
[email protected]
Film Market
After meeting online, Sarah and Philip develop a tragic plan to end
their lives. They plan a trip to the mountains, where Sarah used to
hike with her father as a child, intending to jump off a cliff together.
On their journey to the top, they will face the ghosts that have
haunted them for years…
151
Maybe Tomorrow 88'
Alex K. LEE, Italy 2014
Production Company
Penny Lane Film
Angelo D'Agostino
T. +43 650 8747 277
[email protected]
Film Market
93
169
Meat Stew 6'
Film Market
A version made for the actress Rosa Novell; a macabre tale of the
Brothers Grimm which, like all stories, appeals to our collective subconscious.
Luis MIÑARRO, Spain 2014
Production Company
Eddie Saeta SA.
Noelia Gomez
T. +34 934 677 040
[email protected]
Film Market
269
Mediterranea 107'
Jonas CARPIGNANO, Italy-USA-Qatar 2015
World Sales Company
NDM
Fiorella Moretti
T. +33 626 100 765
[email protected]
Ayiva recently left his home in Burkina Faso in search of a way to
provide for his sister and his daughter. He takes advantage of his
position in an illegal smuggling operation to get himself and his
best friend Abas off of the continent. Ayiva adapts to life in Italy, but
when tensions with the local community rise, things become increasingly dangerous. Determined to make his new situation work,
he attempts to weather the storm, but it has its costs.
Official Selection
191
Menandros & Thais 122'
Ondrej CIKAN, Antonin SILAR,
Czech Republic-Austria 2015
Production Company
nutprodukce
Katerina Safarikova
T. +42 060 482 1642
[email protected]
An experimental, feature-length adventure movie based on a novel
by Ondřej Cikán. An Austrian/Czech co-production by Die Gruppe,
FAMU and nutprodukce.
A kidnapped bride. A distraught hero. Odysseys in surreal worlds. At
her wedding to Menandros, Thaïs is carried off by pirates. In his
search for her, the bridegroom becomes a bloodthirsty avenger, his
horse grows wings, a witch promises him another woman, King
Xerxes attempts to unman him, but eventually everything comes to
a happy ending. Or does it?
Film Market
325
The Missing Scarf 7'
Eoin DUFFY, Ireland 2015
Production Company
Eoin Duffy
T. +1 604 728 2441
[email protected]
Official Selection
94
Albert the Squirrel makes a startling discovery... an empty space
where once his favourite scarf lay. He heads off into the forest only
to find everyone else is preoccupied with worries of their own. He
helps who he can before moving on, but never seems to get any
closer to his goal. Ultimately, Albert’s problem is put into perspective
by the friends he helped and the problems they faced and overcame
together.
Film Market
They can always leave you alone.
157
Moscow 61'
Rafael NAVARRO MINON, Spain 2015
World Sales Company
Digital 104 Film Distribution
Jonay García
T. +34 616 834 890
[email protected]
Film Market
Nesrin is an urban, middle-class woman recovering from a divorce.
She’s quit her office job, abandoned her house in Istanbul, and come
to the village house of her deceased grandmother to finish a novel
and live out her childhood dream of being a writer. When her conservative and increasingly unhinged mother turns up uninvited and
refuses to leave, Nesrin’s writing stalls and her fantasies of village
life turn bitter as the two are forced to confront the darker corners
of each other’s inner worlds.
277
Motherland 90'
Senem TÜZEN, Turkey-Greece 2015
Production Company
Zela Film
Olena Yershova
T. +90 537 300 8702
[email protected]
Official Selection
A white ceiling, with a long white florescent light that keeps flickering,
takes a young woman down memory lane… She recalls her old
habit of laughing when nervous. Sitting right across the young
woman is her loving and protective mother. But when an unexpected
truth about the young woman is revealed to the mother, will this
caring relationship remain pure and untainted?
149
Mother Virgin No More 7'
Derya DURMAZ, Turkey 2014
Production Company
Giyotin Film
Emine Yildirim
T. +90 532 646 1907
[email protected]
Official Selection
A devout woman is living with her family in the Jewish cemetery
on Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives. During the day, while her husband
and children are at school, she is left alone on the mountain. She
goes for walks in the cemetery, trying to escape the endless housework. One night, out of frustration, she storms out of the house,
climbing through the cemetery, running wherever her feet will carry
her. To her surprise, she is exposed to an unsettling sexual scene.
Stirred by this image, she starts exploring this new realm of the
mountain, while trying to keep a normal face during her daytime
routine. Until she can’t anymore.
298
Mountain 83'
Yaelle KAYAM, Israel-Denmark 2015
World Sales Company
Films Distribution
Sanam Madjedi
T. +33 1 53 10 33 99
[email protected]
Official Selection
95
129
Mustang 94'
Deniz Gamze ERGÜVEN, France-Turkey-Germany-Qatar
World Sales Company
Kinology
Gregoire Gresslin
T. +33 95 147 4344
[email protected]
Film Market
It’s the beginning of the summer. In a village in the north of Turkey,
Lale and her four sisters come home from school, innocently playing
with boys. The supposed debauchery of their games causes a scandal
with unintended consequences. The family home slowly turns into
a prison, classes on housework and cooking replace school, and marriages begin to be arranged. The five sisters, driven by the same
desire for freedom, fight back against the limits imposed on them.
Official Selection
117
My Skinny Sister 95'
Sanna LENKEN, Sweden 2015
Just as Stella enters the exciting world of adolescence, she discovers
that her big sister and role model Katja is hiding an eating disorder.
The disease slowly tears the family apart. A story about jealousy,
love and betrayal told with warmth, depth and laughter.
World Sales Company
Wide / Eye on Films
Gaëlle Simonetti
T. +33 1 5395 0464
[email protected]
Official Selection
311
Namesakes 30'
Mircea NESTOR, Romania 2013
Two childhood friends, now in their thirties, have grown apart over
the years. Just as one of them is about to leave the country, they get
together one last time for an all-nighter with the old gang, just like
in the good old days.
Production Company
Mircea Nestor
T. +40 742 127 302
[email protected]
328
Neon Bull 101'
Gabriel MASCARO, Brazil-Uruguay-The Netherlands 2015
World Sales Company
Memento Films International (ARTSCOPE a label of Memento Films)
Sata Cissokho
T. +33 1 5334 9020
[email protected]
Official Selection
96
Iremar and his makeshift family travel through Northeast Brazil
taking care of bulls at the Vaquejadas, a Brazilian rodeo. But the region's booming clothing industry has stirred new ambitions and
filled Iremar's mind with dreams of pattern cutting and exquisite
fabrics...
Film Market
In the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear accident, Mariko becomes
unable to sleep. When she moves to Sicily to stay with her former fiancé, Salvatore, she discovers that she is able to sleep only when
driven around at night, nurtured by the lights of the unknown city.
The day becomes a new opportunity to rediscover and reinterpret
the signs and meanings of her life through her skills as a photographer
in the search for a new imaginary place together, where both Mariko
and Salvatore may be able to find each other again…
152
The Nightless City 87'
Alessandra PESCETTA, Italy-UK 2015
World Sales Company
Penny Lane Film
Angelo D'Agostino
T. +43 650 8747 277
[email protected]
Film Market
A man falls in love with a female butcher. Just to watch her chop
the meat, he opens a butcher’s shop and hires her.
301
On the Butcher's Bench 23'
Haris RAFTOGIANNIS, Greece 2006
Production Company
Haris Raftogiannis
T. +30 6974 669 520
[email protected]
After being the sole unfortunate witness to a domestic quarrel that
ends up in a murder, Patrascu finds himself at odds with two very
close neighbors: one is the bizarre murderer. The other is his very
conscience.
161
One Floor Below 93'
Radu MUNTEAN, Romania 2015
World Sales Company
Films Boutique
Valeska Neu
T. +49 30 6953 7850
[email protected]
Official Selection
A huge supermarket is the only meeting point for 14-year-old Julian 283
and his newly met friends. Fresh emotions of brotherhood, affection
and excitement encourage their wish to break out of suburban bore- One of Us 86'
dom. One night, Julian and his pal Marko break into the supermarket Stephan RICHTER, Austria 2015
full of promising products. A moment of childish freedom ends
Production Company
abruptly in a moment of harsh grown-up reality.
Golden Girls Filmproduction & Film Services GmbH
A story inspired by true events.
Arash T. Riahi
T. +43 1 810 5636
[email protected]
Official Selection
97
141
Only for the Weekend 87'
Director KOBAYASHI, Italy 2015
Production Company
Director Kobayashi srl
Gianfranco Gaioni
T. +39 366 179 9093
[email protected]
Film Market
It may seem like Las Vegas, but it’s Milan. Aldo Broggi, a copywriter
addicted to psychiatric drugs, gets dumped by his sexually frustrated
wife. That's when he will meet an old criminal friend of his, who
will get everybody involved in all sorts of shenanigans, completely
out of control. Gambling houses, sexy women, mysterious briefcases,
swimming pools.
Total madness? No, just Milan.
Film Market
215
Our Everyday Life 89'
Ines TANOVIĆ, Bosnia and Herzegovina 2015
Production Company
DOKUMENT Sarajevo
Alem Babic
T. +38 76 121 1803
[email protected]
Forty-year-old Sasha, a war veteran, tries to cope with the unresolved
political situation and economic hardships of post-war Bosnia, while
his father, 63-year-old Muhamed, refuses to forsake his ideals in an
increasingly corrupt society. Torn by the problems of her husband
and son, 62-year-old Maria falls ill, and her illness causes the family
to bond again. When the problems start lining up, both Muhamed
and Sasha realize that the only thing that matters is family; a person’s
last oasis.
Official Selection
111
Our Loved Ones 102'
Guy is found dead in the basement of the family home. Years later,
his son David, now a loving father of two children, secretly carries
the weight of the enigmatic tragedy.
Anne EMOND, Canada 2015
World Sales Company
Wide / Eye on Films
Gaëlle Simonetti
T. +33 1 5395 0464
[email protected]
Film Market
112
Panama 105'
Pavle VUCKOVIĆ, Serbia 2015
World Sales Company
Wide / Eye on Films
Gaëlle Simonetti
T. +33 1 5395 0464
[email protected]
Film Market
98
Jovan starts dating Maja casually, no strings attached. But over time,
her mysterious and shady behavior begins to disturb him. Jovan
starts to follow videos and clues over social networks that hint at
Maja’s parallel life. In a web of lies, pride, jealousy and passionate
sex, Jovan loses himself, desperately trying to understand who Maja
really is.
Film Market
A holiday bus driver, Mario has spent his whole life shuttling pensioners to the sunny south. Stuck in retirement and bored with his
wife and with life, he decides to accept one final trip. Only this time
his passengers are not pensioners, but a motley crew of partygoers
on their way to a festival in Croatia. His last journey soon turns into
a fascinating trip that not only confronts him with his prejudices
but also with his long lost son.
292
Paradise Trips 90'
Raf REYNTJENS, Belgium-The Netherlands 2015
World Sales Company
m-appeal
Torsten Schulze
T. +49 306 150 7505
[email protected]
Film Market
On the coast of a foreign land, Sophia and her child are constant
wanderers, their only property is a red suitcase and their only problem
is to find a way to eat and a place to lay their head for the night. But
who are they?
Are they fleeing from a distant memory or are they themselves a
memory from years ago in someone’s mind? What happens when
past visions and future facts collide? Inspired by a real entry in a forgotten diary, Paragraph treads the delicate line between storytelling
and memory.
168
Paragraph 63'
Yoni BENTOVIM, Emily HARRIS, UK 2015
Production Company
Indivision Films
Yoni Bentovim
T. +44 079 4103 1179
[email protected]
Film Market
Paulina abandons her successful career as a lawyer in Buenos Aires 271
to engage in social activism back in her homeland on the border between Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil. After two weeks working in Paulina 103'
a neighborhood scarred by marginalization, she is assaulted by a Santiago MITRE, Argentina-Brazil-France 2015
gang. Despite the brutality of the attack, instead of fleeing, Paulina
resolves to hold on tighter to her convictions – to survive, against World Sales Company
the odds.
Versatile
Alexandre Moreau
T. +33 1 7621 6168
[email protected]
Official Selection
Seventeen-year-old Layla’s prayers are answered when she wins a
college scholarship. From a low-income family, she has been working
full time at a local telemarketing company and it hasn’t stopped her
from being at the top of her high school class. Hanging out with her
slacker boyfriend Danny and partying with her best friend Melanie
round out Layla’s routine. But an unplanned pregnancy changes
everything. Giving into family pressure, Layla decides against an
abortion, drops her college dreams and moves into her loving
Grandma‘s trailer on the edge of town...
262
Petting Zoo 93'
Micah MAGEE, Germany-USA-Greece 2015
World Sales Company
Michael Weber
T. +49 221 539 709 0
[email protected]
Official Selection
99
170
Photographer 133'
Irena PAVLASKOVA,
Czech Republic-Slovak Republic 2015
Film Market
A story freely inspired by the fortunes of the celebrated Czech photographer Jan Saudek, which outlines some of the fateful crossroads
of an artist blessed with exceptional talent in more than one field,
as well as with spontaneity and passion. All these attributes brought
him fame as well as rejection; love as well as betrayal; masses of
admirers as well as loneliness.
Production Company
Cineart TV Prague, Ceska televize (Czech TV)
Jitka Prochazkova
T. +420 261 137 438
[email protected]
Film Market
296
Pikadero 98'
Ben SHARROCK, UK-Spain 2015
Production Company
Caravan Cinema
Irune Gurtubai
T. +44 782 549 0610
[email protected]
Unable to leave the nest due to the economic crisis that is gripping
Spain, a penniless young couple have trouble consummating their
fledgling relationship in their parents’ homes. As they become increasingly desperate to make love and with no money to afford a
hotel, they are forced to look to popular public hotspots commonly
used for sex among young people, known by the locals as “pikaderos”.
However, things are never as easy as they seem, and their relationship
is quickly tested as they try to break free from the shackles of a
crumbling economy.
Film Market
122
The Project of the Century 100'
Carlos M. QUINTELA,
Argentina-Cuba-Germany-Switzerland 2015
World Sales Company
m-appeal
Torsten Schulze
T. +49 306 150 7505
[email protected]
Amidst a mosquito plague, Leonardo, struggling with the breakdown
of his relationship, moves back to live with a grandfather who fights
with everyone and everything, and a father living with the melancholy of the unfinished. In a city once promised to become the hub
of the Soviet nuclear project in the Caribbean, the scant remains of
this world weigh down on these three solitary men, who, unlike
their pet fish Benjamin, have yet to learn how to breathe under water.
Official Selection
246
The Purple Onion 75'
Matt SZYMANOWSKI, USA 2015
Production Company
Wolves Films
Matt Symanowski
T. +1 415 412 9983
[email protected]
Film Market
100
Inspired by the standup acts of real life, Chinese American comedian
Edwin Li, a young man in San Francisco, spirals downward into disappointment until he finds solace in a brief sexual encounter with
an older woman to whom he may or may not be related.
Film Market
Catherine has entered a particularly dark period in her life: her father,
a famous artist whose affairs she managed, has recently died, and
on the heels of his death she's dumped by her boyfriend James.
Looking to recuperate, Catherine heads out to her best friend Virginia's
lake house for some much needed relaxation. However, once Catherine arrives, relaxation proves impossible to find, as she is overcome
with memories of time spent at the same house with James the
year before...
263
Queen of Earth 90'
Alex Ross PERRY, USA
World Sales Company
Michael Weber
T. +49 221 539 709 0
[email protected]
Official Selection
Jozef, a Polish man in his fifties, arrives in France not only to work in
construction, but also to find his son Roman whom he had abandoned
fifteen years earlier.
He goes to Rose, the construction foreman’s daughter to help him in
his search.
249
Raging Rose 80'
Julia KOWALSKI, France-Poland 2015
World Sales Company
Alpha Violet
Virginie Devesa
T. +33 1 4489 9974
[email protected]
Film Market
One girl. One car. One night. No coincidence.
124
Ramona 21'
Andrei CREŢULESCU, Romania 2015
World Sales Company
New Europe Film Sales
Jan Naszewski
T. +48 600 173 205
[email protected]
Official Selection
In a remote Icelandic valley, two estranged brothers come together
to save their sheep.
125
Rams 93'
Grímur HÁKONARSON, Iceland 2015
World Sales Company
New Europe Film Sales
Jan Naszewski
T. +48 600 173 205
[email protected]
Official Selection
101
144
Real Life 90'
Robert HEBER, Germany 2015
Production Company
Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF
Cristina Marx
T. +49 1 728 096 474
[email protected]
Film Market
A border region village between the Czech Republic and Germany
tells the love story of Tommy (19) from a socially disadvantaged
background and Julia (18) from a wealthy family. Julia becomes unexpectedly pregnant. Against their parents’ wishes, Julia and Tommy
want to build a future together with the child. Money is a big issue
for Tommy, who works as a baker’s apprentice. Tommy is offered a
risky deal – drug smuggling. The young relationship is put to the
test.
Film Market
102
Red 97'
Yücel MUSTEKIN, Turkey 2015
World Sales Company
Match Point
Melis Konca
T. +90 533 578 0699
[email protected]
Film Market
323
Red Rose 88'
Sepideh FARSI, France 2014
World Sales Company
Urban Distribution International
Eric Schnedecker
T. +33 1 445 45477
[email protected]
Umut is a tormented young man, haunted by the demons of his
past. After celebrating their first dating anniversary with friends,
Umut brings his girlfriend Asli to his place at the top floor of a creepy,
deserted historical building, where only he and the janitor and his
wife live. With heads spinning from love and booze, just before they
fall asleep, they are startled to find a big surprise: a big red suitcase,
begging to be opened, waiting for them in the middle of the living
room – but neither of them is the owner!
Panic and tension infects the calm atmosphere between the lovers
and they start to attack each other with meaningless accusations.
When they finally gather their wits and open the suitcase, they face
the horrible scene that will lead them to a nightmare. Will they ever
wake up from it?
Tehran. June 2009.
The uproar of a city that is awash in the “Green Wave” of protest
against the rigged presidential election.
An apartment as a shelter.
A man and a woman who belong to two different generations.
A mobile phone and a computer to communicate with the free world.
A love story, that will change two lives.
300
Rising Voices 95'
Bénédicte LIENARD, Mary JIMENEZ, Belgium 2015
Production Company
Tarantula
Thomas Meys
T. +32 422 59079
[email protected]
Official Selection
102
Their names are Moktar, Najat, Joseph, Gernaz, Duraid, Hayder, Kader,
Esma... They fled Syria, Iraq, Iran, Congo, Morocco and Niger... Together, they occupy a church. They will risk their lives for asylum.
Days of countdown begin; a test of strength in itself. Inside, Kader
has assumed the role of leader, but, mysteriously, sometimes he is
missing. Day by day, devotedly, Esma cares for this community. Exhaustion increases; tensions rise. But bonds are forged and strengthened. Between betrayal and brotherhood, the group will have to
put itself to the test, and face up to the challenge.
Film Market
A minefield by the Evros River. The border. A platoon of sappers is
struggling to clear it. Yannis is among them. Gangs transfer immigrants and refugees across the border-river. Sometimes the minefield
breaks its dark silence. Chryssa, who takes the children across, will
stumble on Yannis. Challenging death is their common fate. She will
be lost. Yannis will stay behind trying to understand what love is,
through a miracle.
235
Riverbanks 96'
Panos KARKANEVATOS, Greece-Germany-Turkey 2015
Production Company
Vergi Film Productions
Antea Karafilli
T. +30 210 656 1330
[email protected]
Official Selection
Rana and Guy, a young married couple live in today’s city of Beirut.
A city forced into modernity and constantly transforming to a rhythm
of an unstable environment. Rana suddenly quits her job and falls
slowly into a state of lingering. Guy decides they need to leave their
home and go on a road-trip that leads them to the mountains. The
road becomes one of remembrance and nostalgia. A road that might
bring them closer to themselves and ultimately to each other.
166
The Road 98'
Rana SALEM, Lebanon 2015
Production Company
Artrip productions
Christel Salem
T. +96 1 3904 838
[email protected]
Film Market
Sebastián takes Jalil on a most important mission. What begins as
an inconvenience for Sebastián ends up being an adventure that
will change his life.
217
Road to La Paz 90'
Francisco VARONE, Argentina 2015
World Sales Company
Figa Films
Sandro Fiorin
T. +54 114 966 0110
[email protected]
Official Selection
Sabali is a dramatic film with touches of absurdist comedy, and features surrealist dream sequences and a colourful art design. The
story is centered on Jeannette, who has a severe heart condition
that keeps her trapped in a suburb of Montreal. After receiving her
new heart, Jeannette begins to have strange visions of her donor’s
former life. Soon after, she is befriended by her donor’s son, a Malian
teenager, who believes she is his mother reincarnated. The story
itself is based on the scientific concept of cellular memory, the idea
that cells contain memories, and that organ recipients sometimes
take on the personality traits of their donors.
173
Sabali 79'
Ryan McKENNA, Canada 2015
World Sales Company
K-Films Amerique
Louis Dussault
T. +43 8881 0501
[email protected]
Official Selection
103
182
Saints 78'
Ivan PERIĆ, Croatia 2014
Production Company
Dream Division Production
Ivan Perić
T. +385 91 4777 600
[email protected]
Film Market
The story takes place in the suburbs of Split (Croatia), during the
mid-90s and follows three young men on the margins of society,
trying to make a living.
Kralj ("King") and Joke are small time crooks with their unsuccessful
attempts to get rich. When Kralj is arrested and sentenced to six
months in prison, Joke seeks help from a mutual friend Šporki
(”Dirty”). Together they forge a plan that will not go smoothly and
will lead them into a series of weird situations and comic adventures.
Film Market
327
Sam Klemke's Time Machine 89'
Since 1977, Sam Klemke has filmed his life, creating a strange and
intimate portrait of what it means to be human.
Matthew BATE, Australia 2015
World Sales Company
Visit Films
LornaLee Sagebiel
T. +1 718 312 8210
[email protected]
Official Selection
140
Sanctuary 104'
Marc BRUMMUND, Germany 2015
World Sales Company
Jana Wolff
T. +49 30 21 918 220
[email protected]
May 1968: Rolling Stones, bell-bottoms, mini-skirts, sexual revolution,
protests against the Vietnam War… While Germany sets off for a
new era of freedom, rebellious fourteen-year-old Wolfgang gets
sent to Freistatt, a foster home for difficult children. There he will be
“educated” to become a decent boy. Wolfgang puts up a determined
resistance against the brutal working conditions and the perfidious
education methods of the wardens; he doesn’t allow them to get
him down. But for how long can he manage to resist the system of
violence and oppression without brutalizing himself?
Film Market
265
The Second Mother 110'
Anna MUYLAERT, Brazil 2015
World Sales Company
Michael Weber
T. +49 221 539 709 0
[email protected]
Official Selection
104
Val is the kind of live-in housekeeper who takes her work seriously.
She wears a crisp maid’s uniform while serving perfect canapés; she
serves her wealthy São Paulo employers day in and day out while
lovingly nannying their teenage son whom she’s raised since toddlerhood. Everyone and everything in the elegant house has its
place, until one day Val’s ambitious, clever daughter Jessica arrives
from Val’s hometown to take the college entrance exams. Jessica’s
confident, youthful presence upsets the unspoken yet strict balance
of power in the household; Val must decide where her allegiances
lie and what she’s willing to sacrifice.
Film Market
Mahir, a musician renowned for his proud personality, has been having a secret romantic relationship with her daughter’s friend Duru.
Duru’s father Ali is a traditional, family-oriented man. Mahir and
Duru drift apart in their fear while Ali is just about to learn of their
secret relationship.
109
Secret 102'
Selim EVCI, Turkey 2015
Production Company
Evci Film
Mediha Didem Türemen
T. +90 212 249 5835
[email protected]
Film Market
Larry (Jason Schwartzman) is content with his dog Arrow and booze,
barely tolerating anything or anyone else. His marginally successful
relationships include his grandmother, who keeps him afloat financially, and his best friend Norwood, who provides him with pharmaceuticals. But a chance encounter at a Jiffy Lube gives Larry a beguiling new boss and the impetus to head in another direction for a
while.
This movie showcases all that may be needed to help a person get
unstuck in life: love (or an unrequited crush), friendship (or someone
your family likes better than you) and family (or in this case a grandmother who will support you whenever you get fired from a job).
329
Seven Chinese Brothers 76'
Bob Byington, USA 2015
World Sales Company
Spotlight Pictures
Will Robelo
T. +1 323 871 2551
[email protected]
Official Selection
It’s summer and everybody seems to be talking only about sex.
Edoardo is insecure and awkward with girls: he never told anybody,
even his best friend Arturo, that since birth his foreskin is too narrow,
preventing him from having sex. But when you are 17, love is in the
air: Edoardo will have to find his way.
128
Short Skin 86'
Duccio CHIARINI, Italy 2014
World Sales Company
Films Boutique
Valeska Neu
T. +49 3069537850
[email protected]
Film Market
Amongst the constantly talking animals of a herd, the basic rule of
normality is the theater of conversation. When a young animal loses
its voice and goes into hiding, the talking herd can’t accept its weakness and follows the rule, speaking to it using monologues. The
young animal remains silent and the talking herd stands confused
and unable to decide whether it’s really sick or just pretending. But
as the silent, isolated animal struggles to get its voice back, the
talking animals surround its cage and the most distrustful of them
attacks.
226
Silent 92'
Yorgos GKIKAPEPPAS, Greece 2015
Production Company
Film Society
Yorgos Gkikapeppas
T. +30 694 155 9080
[email protected]
Official Selection
105
302
A Silent Sea 43'
Haris RAFTOGIANNIS, Greece 2012
Film Market
In the Aegean sea, the fish population is collapsing. Two are the
main factors: illegal fishing and overfishing. In contrast, the coastal
fishermen of the Cycladic islands, give their own battle to ensure
the future of the sea.
Production Company
doc3
valerie kontakos
T. +30 6974 669 520
[email protected]
158
Sin & Illy Still Alive 71'
Maria HENGGE, Germany-Austria 2014
Sin and Illy have a plan: on a Greek island they want to get “clean”
on their own. But the intention of the two girls fails already on the
way to the airport. Finally, Sin realizes she has to free herself of her
heroin addiction all alone.
Production Company
abadon production, Nanookfilm
Maria Hengge
T. +49 1 638 294 145
[email protected]
Film Market
183
Sirens and Screams 82'
Ivan PERIĆ, Croatia 2015
Production Company
Dream Division Production
Ivan Perić
T. +385 91 4777 600
[email protected]
This film has been shot in a continuous 78-minute take. The story
takes place in a city ravaged by crisis, poverty and crime. The people
who remained belong mostly to the low class, and they’re struggling
to survive through various criminal activities. One of the last prosperous citizens was murdered, and we’re following a large cast of
characters in their quest to find his corpse. One of the characters
has different plans, but he gets involved in the quest against his
will.
Film Market
224
Six and a Half 86'
Julio FRAGA, Spain 2015
Production Company
Cristina Rojas
T. +34 60 931 9211
[email protected]
Film Market
106
Six and a half is an innovative film that makes a bet on telling a
rarely told, though much experienced story, and does so from an
unusual point of view and in an equally unusual way. An apparently
complex, even puzzling outset soon traps and entices viewers to the
evolution of a love story fighting to survive from the unstable position
provided by a 6.5 level.
Film Market
The Sky Above Us is an authentic, contemporary drama about the
bombing of Belgrade in 1999. Ana, Sloba and Bojan: three different
people, three different ways of hanging on to normal life in the most
difficult of situations. The NATO bombings took place 15 years ago.
Unfortunately, to this day similar wars continue to shake and divide
Europe and the world. When will there finally be peace?
206
The Sky Above Us 97'
Marinus GROOTHOF,
The Netherlands-Serbia-Greece-Belgium 2015
World Sales Company
Heretic Outreach
Ioanna Stais
T. +30 210 600 5260
[email protected]
Official Selection
Smac (Second mitochondrial activator of caspases) is a mitochondrial
protein that promotes natural cell death. Eleni has cancer. Andreas
is homeless. An accidental encounter benefits both of them.
258
Smac 110'
Elias DEMETRIOU, Greece 2015
Production Company
Ammos Films
Elias Demetriou
T. +30 6944 881 820
[email protected]
Official Selection
After the death of her father, 17-year-old Noufissa must go with her
mother and live in the mansion of Lalla Amina, the wife of an important Tetouan dignitary. Once there, a close friendship develops
between her and Fattouma, Lalla Amina's granddaughter. The 2
young girls promise to share everything and never leave each other.
But when Fattouma discovers that Noufissa will soon get married,
she will do the impossible not to lose her friend.
101
Small Pleasures 85'
Mohamed Chrif TRIBAK, Morocco 2015
Production Company
Clipper Films
Mohamed Chrif tribak
T. +212 603 715 787
[email protected]
Film Market
Snow is a film about the choice, betrayal and forgiveness between
brothers and sons, narrated against the background of the harsh reality of an abandoned place.
178
Snow 80'
Ventsislav VASILEV, Bulgaria-Ukraine 2015
Production Company
100 Film
Konstantin Burov
T. +35 988 601 7206
[email protected]
Film Market
107
197
Song of Songs 76'
Eva NEYMANN, Ukraine 2015
Film Market
1905. A Jewish Shtetl. Shimek and Buzya are two 10-year-olds. Of
course, she is a princess and he is a prince. They live in the same
yard, in neighboring palaces. What Buzya really means to him,
Shimek begins to understand only years later when, far away from
home, he receives the news that Buzya is about to be married off.
World Sales Company
Everything Works
Ivana Ivisic
T. +38 591 181 1002
[email protected]
Official Selection
252
Spirit of Dust 95'
Nesimi YETIK, Turkey 2014
Production Company
Ozminimalist Film
Betul Esener
T. +90 5541 373 0341
[email protected]
Metin (37) is a male day-cleaner in Istanbul. He is a simple-hearted
man living in his small and happy world. He is passionate about
‘arabesque’ music and he composes songs.
Metin’s small world is first disturbed by the visit of his nephew, Umit,
who is doing his military service in Istanbul. But his world is truly
shaken by the arrival of Neslihan, the manicurist he knows through
one of his clients.
Eventually, both of them leave Metin's life as they have entered.
Metin, once again, finds himself with his solitude in his small world.
Meanwhile, something curious happens and the talent show for
which he had sung invites him to the TV show.
Film Market
287
Still Got Lives 23'
Jan-Gerrit SEYLER, Germany 2013
Production Company
Hamburg Media School
Petra Barkhausen
T. +49 172 239 6333
[email protected]
For Marco and Lisa it’s true love. Online, they fight side by side
against dreadful monsters. Sometimes they die on their mission,
but there is always one life to spare. Still, Lisa refuses to meet Marco
for real. When one day she stops showing up for the game, Marco
decides to go searching for her. But in Lisa’s world, they will need all
their strength and courage to really meet each other.
Official Selection
319
Still Waters 14'
Nir SAAR, Maya SARFATY, Israel 2012
Production Company
Tel Aviv University
Nir Saar
T. +972 503 422 523
[email protected]
108
By an ancient spring near Jerusalem, an Israeli couple finds a quiet
moment away from the rat race of Tel Aviv life. The cool water spring
is also used by a group of Palestinians heading to their jobs in Israel.
At high noon, they are forced to look each other in the eye.
Film Market
Paris, 1971. Delphine meets Carole. The former, a farmer’s daughter,
has moved to the capital in order to become financially independent
and dreams of heading up her own business, an inconceivable notion
at that time. The latter, who is in a relationship with Alexandre, is
gleefully experiencing the beginnings of the feminist rebellion. One
of them is reserved, keeps to herself, but she knows that she likes
other women. The other was completely unaware that she could
experience an attraction like this. Their encounter throws their lives
into turmoil.
299
Summertime 105'
Catherine CORSINI, France 2015
World Sales Company
Agathe Mauruc
T. +33 1 42 960 101
[email protected]
Official Selection
On Sunday, a nine-year-old boy whose parents are divorced, visits 176
his father, a doctor. The boy is angry at him for not allowing him to
bring his dog to the apartment. He rejects any form of communica- Sunday 22'
tion. Father needs to go on a medical intervention to the village but Goran DEVIĆ, Croatia 2015
he cannot leave the boy alone in the apartment. What the boy exProduction Company
periences at the village will change him for life.
Petnaesta umjetnost
Hrvoje Osvadić
T. +385 91 2188 480
[email protected]
Official Selection
Two Albanian brothers, Saimir and Vini, emigrate to Greece and try,
each in his own way, to integrate into their host country by following
two different lifestyles, with no way of turning back.
314
Sunrise 104'
Robert BUDINA, Albania 2012
Production Company
Erafilm
Sabina Kodra
T. +35 569 409 5804
[email protected]
An Albanian woman who – according to her region’s custom – has
lived as a man for most of her life, wants to reclaim her sexual identity.
126
Sworn Virgin 90'
Laura BISPURI, Italy-Switzerland-GermanyAlbania-UNMI Kosovo-France 2015
World Sales Company
Michael Weber
T. +49 221 539 709 0
[email protected]
Official Selection
109
132
Symptom 87'
Angelos FRANTZIS, Greece 2015
World Sales Company
The Gardens
Angelos Frantzis
T. +30 6945 595 631
[email protected]
Film Market
One winter, on an isolated island, a creature with a leather jacket
and eyes that glow in the dark, appears. Whoever comes in contact
with him loses his mind. The residents ask for help from a strange
girl who seems to be the only one to have the power to confront the
creature. The girl, in order to strengthen her faith, ends up acting
more and more outrageously. Her actions seem to hide a secret relationship with it.
Official Selection
250
Tabula Rasa 100'
Natalia STRATOU, Iro DONTA, Greece 2015
Production Company
Iro Donta
T. +30 6944 568 807
[email protected]
It is the story of a young boy, leaving the orphanage he grew up in
after turning 18. When he finds out that his only friend, who he left
behind at the orphanage, is sent away to the city of Athens, he embarks on a journey into the unknown. He is an immature and naive
young man who knows nothing of his identity, like a blank slate
shaped by people he meets along the way and his new experiences.
The boy’s personality and understanding of the world change to
such an extent that they leave him wondering who he really is...
Official Selection
259
Thanatos 117'
Max STURGEON, Poland-USA 2015
Production Company
Bury Mis Films
Agnies Cynkowska
T. +1 512 358 4571
[email protected]
The lives of three strangers, each holding a dark secret, spiral out of
control.
A broken man craving pain and punishment, a woman consumed
by a life of reckless promiscuity, and a husband whose picture perfect
life comes crashing down. When paths collide, it will either lead to
their ultimate downfall or unexpected salvation.
The film is a dark drama not unlike Leaving Las Vegas or 21 Grams.
Film Market
238
Thank you for Bombing 100'
Barbara EDER, Austria 2015
World Sales Company
Premium Films
Kasia Karwan
T. +33 1 4277 0639
[email protected]
Official Selection
110
Three international TV correspondents cross paths while waiting for
a war that has already begun long ago in their own lives.
Film Market
Two old friends reconnect after a long time. One is a sketchy bar
manager,the other an art designer with a huge poker debt. Their
lives couldn't be more different. But is their childhood bond strong
enough to forgive a missed wedding and carry out a promise to a
dead father?
185
There is Nothing in This World 10'
Andreea VALEAN, Romania 2015
Production Company
AMOIDEE
Andreea Valean
T. +40 724 382 033
[email protected]
Official Selection
The Thin Yellow Line is the journey of five men who are hired to paint 321
the median line of a road that connects two villages in Mexico. On
board an old truck, they do the job: more than 200 kilometers that The Thin Yellow Line 95'
they have to complete in less than fifteen days under a burning sun. Celso GARCIA, Mexico 2015
Five solitary men that will acknowledge that there is a thin line between right and wrong; between laughter and crying; between life World Sales Company
Latido Films
and death.
Francesca Perin
T. +34 915 488 877
[email protected]
Film Market
A couple and their teenage son eke out a living on a hilltop, doing
the laundry for local hotels, despite the intermittent water supply.
Their simple life is overturned by the arrival of a father-and-daughter
team of diviner and well-digger, who promise to bring an end to
this precarious existence by finding a source on their arid hill. But
ultimately, these newcomers quench a thirst that is much stronger
than that for mere water.
267
Thirst 90'
Svetla TSOTSORKOVA, Bulgaria 2015
World Sales Company
Alpha Violet
Keiko Funato
T. +33 1 4797 3984
[email protected]
Official Selection
There is a B&B where every room is a city of the world. You can
choose the room-city you want to go to and you'll live in its time
zone. It's a training course for long distance relationships. Apparently.
209
Time Zone Inn 73'
Andrea DI IORIO, Italy 2015
Production Company
I Film Good
Andrea Di Iorio
T. +39 328 384 8593
[email protected]
Film Market
111
137
To My Beloved 113'
Aly MURITIBA, Brazil 2015
World Sales Company
Jana Wolff
T. +49 302 191 8220
[email protected]
Film Market
After the loss of his wife Ana, Fernando becomes a quiet and introspective man, who raises his son Daniel by himself. Every night,
while the boy sleeps, he recalls his love by organizing her personal
belongings. One day he watches one of her VHS tapes and finds out
that she has been unfaithful. Fernando decides to get to know the
man, who ruined the image he had of his beloved wife.
Film Market
324
A community of beleaguered goatherds deals with increasing poverty.
To the Wolf 74'
Christina KOUTSOSPYROU, Aran HUGHES, Greece 2012
World Sales Company
Homemade Films
Maria Drandaki
T. +30 213 041 5200
[email protected]
220
Toro 83'
Martin HAWIE, Germany 2015
Production Company
Aacademy of Media Arts Cologne
Ute Dilger
T. +49 221 2018 9330
[email protected]
Toro, whose real name is Piotr, came to Germany 10 years ago. Since
than he has worked as an Escort. Currently he is saving up his money
to return home to Poland with his best friend Victor. Toro wants to
start from there again as a boxing trainer. Victor has already given
up his dreams. His drug addiction drives the sensitive Latino into
prostitution. When three small-time criminals are out to get him,
Toro and Victor’s manic environment descends into chaos. Their longstanding friendship is put to the test.
Film Market
293
Tough Love 89'
Rosa VON PRAUNHEIM, Germany 2015
World Sales Company
m-appeal
Torsten Schulze
T. +49 306 150 7505
[email protected]
Film Market
112
A man set to lose it all, former world karate champion Andreas Marquardt and his fictional counterpart recreate a turbulent past, showcasing a childhood rife with sexual abuse, a career as a pimp, and,
ultimately, a lengthy jail sentence. Andreas recounts how his early
life choices later led him to get treatment, enabling him to begin
anew with the one woman who endured all and stayed with him
during his darkest days. Today, he runs a karate school for young
children, as well as a number of charities campaigning against child
abuse, proving that it’s never to late to change.
Film Market
A man and a woman, together and separately, while the trains keep
passing by.
306
Trains 5'
Production Company
Alexandros Skouras
T. +30 6938 311 241
[email protected]
Moving through a world filled with scanners and surveillance algorithms, while frivolously using different social networks, online forms
and credit cards, people today give away their privacy voluntarily. A
decent citizen has nothing to hide. Only criminals do.
284
Transparency 6'
Daniel ŠULJIĆ, Croatia 2015
World Sales Company
Zagreb film
Sanja Borčić
T. +38 514 613 689
[email protected]
Official Selection
An ordinary school day for a teenage girl in Istanbul and her encounters with three different men as she goes to school, plays basketball and takes a bus home.
211
Tuesday 12'
Ziya DEMIREL, Turkey-France 2015
World Sales Company
Origine Films
Emilie Dubois
T. +33 1 4284 2270
[email protected]
Official Selection
While on a business trip, Caroline, a French architect, and Jaako, a
Finnish DJ, meet in Vilnius, Lithuania and end up spending the night
together. But their relationship, though at first a one night stand,
takes an unexpected turn when a volcanic ash cloud prevents all
flights from taking off.
121
Two Nights Till Morning 88'
Mikko KUPARINEN, Finland-Lithuania 2015
World Sales Company
Wide / Eye on Films
Gaëlle Simonetti
T. +33153950464
[email protected]
Film Market
113
318
Typo 7'
Hussen IBRAHEEM, Lebanon 2013
Production Company
Hussen Ibraheem
T. +96 17 185 5131
[email protected]
Film Market
Faced by an impossible choice, a young man discovers he is dead 8
years earlier than his decided time. This divine mistake can only be
corrected by one of two ways: either stay in limbo for 8 years and
keep himself, or lose his memories and start from scratch back on
Earth. This is a story of life and death being put head to head just
because of a Typo.
159
Under Electric Clouds 137'
Alexey GERMAN Jr., Russia-Ukraine-Poland 2015
World Sales Company
Films Boutique
Valeska Neu
T. +49 3069537850
[email protected]
Russia 2017. The world could be on the verge of a great war. People
are anxious that things could fall apart. Revolving around an unfinished building, a diverse group of outsiders struggle to find their
place in this rapidly changing society, making up the mosaic of existence that is life itself… With sophisticated visuals and wit, writerdirector Alexey German Jr. boldy pursues his exploration of Russian
culture and politics by reaching deep into the soul of the human
spirit.
Film Market
189
Ursa Minor 86'
Elissavet CHRONOPOULOU, Greece 2015
World Sales Company
Greek Film Centre
Iliana Zakopoulou
T. +30 210 3678 500
[email protected]
Ιn a cheap by-the-hour hotel, a man is being arrested while the unconscious body of a woman is being transported to the hospital. In
the back seat of the patrol car, on his way to the police station, the
man is recalling the last few months. From the day he first met the
girl, at the same hotel, until the dramatic end of their relationship,
the morning of his arrest.
Official Selection
275
Very Big Shot 107'
Mir-Jean BOU CHAAYA, Lebanon-Qatar 2015
World Sales Company
Be For Films
Pamela Leu
T. +32 4 898 02 123
[email protected]
Official Selection
114
Intending to smuggle the amphetamine Captagon across the border,
a small-time Lebanese drug-dealer makes a brilliant discovery and,
with the help of an underrated filmmaker, slyly manipulates public
opinion.
Film Market
Tehran. Present day.
After the death of his wife and facing the onset of Alzheimer’s, Mr
Safari, an eighty-year-old pensioner, decides to visit his son, who
lives abroad and cannot return home for security reasons.
Sara, a young woman working in a travel agency, is given the task
of organizing Mr Safari’s travel arrangements.
But then Mr Safari falls in love with Sara, gives up all ideas of traveling
and decides, before his memory completely fails, to express his love
for Sara at any price, even if it involves murder.
308
A Very Ordinary Citizen 100'
Majid BARZEGAR, Iran-Czech Republic 2015
World Sales Company
DreamLab Films
Nasrine Médard de Chardon
T. +33 493 387 561
[email protected]
Official Selection
Fede suffers from morbid obesity and lives confined among four
walls. When his brother-in-law Ramón shows him a camera, Fede
also wants one. During a trip to the camera shop he meets Paulo, a
lonely teenager who loves comic books. The three of them form a
friendship that completely changes their lives.
138
Walking Distance 104'
Alejandro GUZMAN ALVAREZ, Mexico 2015
World Sales Company
Jana Wolff
T. +49 30 21 918 220
[email protected]
Film Market
Having left England for a romantic escapade in the South of France,
Olivier and James invite Caroline along at the very last minute. The
trio arrives in a little Provencal village, somewhat cut off from the
world. Though everything seems calm between the pool, sunshine
and a village visit, Olivier finds himself more and more intrigued by
Caroline.
A tension of sexual jealousy and possessiveness will then escalate
among the three of them.
118
WASP 72'
Philippe AUDI-DOR, UK 2015
World Sales Company
Wide / Eye on Films
Gaëlle Simonetti
T. +33 1 5395 0464
[email protected]
Film Market
Stelios is the owner of a jazz club in Athens. A few years ago, through
the help of his former associate Vassos, Stelios received a business
loan from a Romanian gangster in order to renovate his club. In
2010, the recession finds Stelios on the brink of bankruptcy, unable
to repay the loan. The Romanian meets with Stelios and gives him
one day to come up with a solution. In a vortex of adultery, drug
abuse, violence, guilt and self-deceit, Stelios has a few hours left to
save his club, salvage his crumbling marriage, battle the mafia loansharks, baptize his employee’s kid and show up at school to pick up
his son’s report card like a responsible parent.
204
Wednesday 04:45 116'
Alexis ALEXIOU, Greece-Germany-Israel 2015
World Sales Company
Loco Films
Florencia Gil
T. +30 210 641 1992
[email protected]
Official Selection
115
142
We Monsters 95'
Sebastian KO, Germany 2015
Film Market
Paul and Christine know: Their teenager daughter Sarah, thrown off
track by their separation, is capable of anything, including killing
her best friend. Wanting to protect their daughter they thus decide
to hide the crime. Their joint guilt forces the family back together,
creating a web of lies and deadly intentions with no way out.
World Sales Company
Jana Wolff
T. +49 30 21 918 220
[email protected]
Film Market
146
What's Between Us 94'
Claudia LORENZ, Switzerland 2015
World Sales Company
Film Republic
Ines Skrbic
T. +44 203 287 9112
[email protected]
Alice and Frank have just moved to a new house in the country with
their children, but as their day-to-day life takes its course, Alice
notices that Frank is worried about something. He only opens up to
her gradually and the more he reveals about himself, the less Alice
wants to know about the truth; that he is increasingly attracted to
men.
Film Market
243
Where There Is Shade 105'
Nathan NICHOLOVITCH, France 2015
In Cambodia still haunted by the crimes of the Khmer Rouge, a 45year-old French crossdresser, Mirinda, lives as a prostitute in the
backstreets of Phnom Penh. Meeting a young trafficked girl, he gradually discovers the feeling of fatherhood..
Production Company
D'un film a l'autre
Nathan Nicholovitch
T. +33 1 5301 5026
[email protected]
Official Selection
236
White People 84'
Lisa ASCHAN, Sweden 2015
Production Company
Garagefilm International
Anna-Maria Kantarius
T. +46 8 6844 1300
[email protected]
Official Selection
116
Alex is seized on the street outside the grocery store and taken to an
underground prison where people are locked up to await deportation.
Viktoria is the director of the facility, and she rules with an iron fist.
From the moment Alex arrives, she is determined to escape, no
matter the cost.
After making her debut with the critically praised She Monkeys, Lisa
Aschan is back with White People – a topical film about power and
hierarchy. Will you eat or be eaten? Also appearing, alongside Pernilla
August and Vera Vitali, are Issaka Sawadogo, Aliette Opheim, Emil
Almén, and Bahador Foladi.
Film Market
The last day of school. They talk about leaving Albania.
Six days of the lives of six young people. They believe they have discovered the Viagra of the Balkans, a mosquito whose bite increases
sexual potency. A country girl escapes from home and joins the
group. A fugitive from the Greek prisons kidnaps the youngsters one
by one and ties them to trees. Sexual abuse is sensed.
Intrigue, love, hunger, fear, misunderstandings are present in every
minute of the story. Queen "Pussquito" bites the fugitive when he’s
being arrested by the policemen whom he tries to kiss.
200
Wild Air Drinker 74'
Kelmend KARUNI, Albania 2014
Production Company
Sirea Film
Esmeralda Blaceri
T. +35 567 202 9994
[email protected]
Film Market
At 19, Zenaida has fully experienced the ugly face of the European
dream. A victim of women's trafficking, born in Africa and trapped
in a European city, she is coerced by her “owners” to work in a brothel
as a prostitute. Her life has been gradually reduced to a pathetic
meaningless routine and a recurring sequence of drug-induced hallucinations, which, whilst providing an escape from the present,
bring back to life nightmares from the past. Parallel images of her
life in the poverty of an African slum and the misery of a ruthless
European city.
257
Zenaida 66'
Alexis TSAFAS, Yannis FOTOU, Greece-Cape Verde 2015
Production Company
Criola producoes
Alexis Tsafas
T. +30 6974 115 187
[email protected]
Official Selection
Festival Director: Dimitri Eipides
General Coordinator: Eleni Rammou
AGORA INDUSTRY
Coordinator: Marie-Pierre Macia
Head of Market: Yianna Sarri
Crossroads & Agora WiP Coordinator: Angeliki Vergou
Agora Film Market & Agora WiP Coordinator: Denise Andreola
Market Assistant: Leonidas Konstantarakos
Crossroads: Marie-Pierre Macia, Angeliki Vergou
Agora Industry Production: Panagiotis Galios
Agora Industry Assistant: Geortina Serpieri
Agora Industry Production Assistant: Nikos Bozanis
Films Digitization Coordinator: George Nounessis
Film Market Technical Assistance: Yannis Kalligatsis
Copy editing & translations: Denise Andreola, Geortina Serpieri, Mary Kitroeff
Design-Production: Andreas Remountis
Acknowledgements
Bulgaria: Mira Staleva (Sofia Meetings)
France: Jerome Paillard, Julie Bergeron (Cannes Film Festival), Isabelle Fauvel (Initiative Films)
Greece: Yorgos Kalogeropoulos, Eleni Kalogeropoulou,
Dimitris Emmanouilidis (MFI Script 2 Film Workshops), Pola Bousiou
10 Aristotelous Sq., 54623 Thessaloniki, Greece
Τ. +30 2310 378400 F. +30 2310 285759
7, Dion. Areopagitou st., 11742 Athens, Greece
Τ. +30 210 8706000 F. +30 210 6448143
[email protected] www.filmfestival.gr
© 2015, Thessaloniki International Film Festival
117

Thessaloniki Agora – Industry Manual

Transcription

Similar documents

Naqsh Short Films

Film quiz 12 May 2011

Bandyke Moving Pictures

press kit - B-Hen

THE CREATION OF MEANING - Press Kit

Page 19 - Films - Magazine for the Arts

THE SOURCE (international)

Polish Film Festival Flyer 8_5x5_5

Activities related to film in the Department of Literature during the

ULTRASONIC FILM SPLICER MICROFILM EQUIPMENT