25th AnniversAry of hfM - Nederlands Film Festival
Transcription
25th AnniversAry of hfM - Nederlands Film Festival
27 Sep -1 ocT uTrechT filmfeSTival.Nl GERMAN/ DUTCH PRODUCERS MEETING 2012 -The New GeNeraTioN 29 SepTemBer 25th Ary s r e v i Ann of hfM iNTerNaTioNal SecTioN of The NeTherlaNdS film feSTival Contents German/Dutch Producers Meeting 2012The New Generation 2 4 6 7 8 10 12 14 15 16 18 20 26 Foreword Producers: Germany augenschein Filmproduktion, Jonas Katzenstein and Maximilian Leo Project: FATHER Beleza Film, Jessica Landt and Falk Nagel Endorphine Production, Fabian Massah Gringo films, Sonja Ewers and Steve Hudson Project: DUISBURG Weydemann Bros., Jakob D. Weydemann Project: EUROPE’S BORDERLAND zischlermann Filmproduktion, Susanne Mann and Paul Zischler Producers: The Netherlands Baldr Film, Frank Hoeve Pupkin Films, Iris Otten CTM LEV Pictures, Sander Verdonk Project: KESSELS Keren Cogan Films & Phanta Vision Film International, Keren Cogan Galjé Project: BETWEEN 12 AND 14 Smarthouse Films, Danielle Guirguis Projects: LA HOLANDESA, CARMEN’S WORLD, DUTCH DANCE-AFROJACK IN DA HOUSE Viking Film, Marleen Slot Project: LUNA 2012 GERMAN / DUTCH PRODUCERS MEETING 1 Foreword Welcome to the German/Dutch Producers Meeting – The New Generation Organized in close cooperation with the FFA (German Federal Filmboard) and the Netherlands Film Fund, the Meeting aims at enhancing the existing synergies between our countries. We like to create ample opportunities –formal and informal- for German & Dutch producers to meet and greet, to talk about projects and to explore coproduction potential. Enthusiasm for intensifying, deepening and expanding of the relation between the young generations of German and Dutch film producers, these terms describe the frame of mind of all parties involved while preparing the Meeting. How does the German film industry market function? What are the chances for Dutch and German producers? Is there common ground, are there common subjects to cover? What genre film, what kind of content could successfully find an audience in the respective countries, what not? And why? Is there a blueprint? What do the figures say? As one of Europe’s smaller countries how does the Netherland Film Fund relate to the several individual German Funds and Länder? How to strengthen the funding? This one-day event is a continuation of previous discussions on German/Dutch co-productions and will hopefully be the first of a regular series of meetings between the two film industries. The Meeting consists of an open and a closed session, reflecting the nature of the event. On the one hand, analyzing the formal status quo of the co-production structure between the countries and discussion of future steps during the morning panel; The –closedafternoon session on the other hand will be solely dedicated to meetings between the participating producers. This Meeting would not have been possible without the support of the Netherlands Film Fund and the FFA and the encouraging enthusiasm of the participating producers. A special thank you to FFA’s Nicola Jones. We wish you a productive and enjoyable day! Ellis Driessen Coordinator Meeting Signe Zeilich-Jensen Head Holland Film Meeting 2 GERMAN / DUTCH PRODUCERS MEETING 2012 Programme 11:30-11:45 hrs 11:45-12:15 hrs 12:15-12:30 hrs 12:30-13:30 hrs Saturday September 29th Word of Welcome Short introduction of the program and panelists State of German/Dutch Affairs Film policy: Present & Future Doreen Boonekamp, CEO Netherlands Film Fund Peter Dinges, CEO Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA) Keynote by Leontine Petit, Lemming Film (NL) / Hamster Film (G) Coproduction Germany - The Netherlands With representatives of German Film Funds and the Netherlands Film Fund 13:30-14:30 hrs Lunch 14:45-17:30 hrs 17:30 hrs Closed session: Project exchange & Networking Closing 2012 GERMAN / DUTCH PRODUCERS MEETING 3 augenschein Filmproduktion Company profile augenschein Filmproduktion was founded in 2008 by Jonas Katzenstein, Maximilian Leo and Keve Zvolenszky. Based in Cologne, Germany, augenschein focuses on international co-productions and national first-time directors, for both fictional and documentary feature films. Our filmography includes: Tour du Faso, feature documentary; 90 mins; in production Who Is Thomas Müller? crossmedia feature documentary; 90 mins; in production End-times documentary; 60 mins; in production Amid Valleys and Mountains drama; 90 mins; co-producer; 2012 Kid drama; 90 mins; co-producer; 2012 The Hardest Time documentary; 45 mins; 2012 Next Tenant short; 30 min; 2010 4 GERMAN / DUTCH PRODUCERS MEETING 2012 Project Father Logline Experiencing 1990s Kosovo through the eyes of 10-year-old Nori, Father offers a very special perspective. Nori will not accept being abandoned by his father – not at any cost. Synopsis Yugoslavia is about to collapse. Miloševic is in power; terror dominates everyday life; and trafficking seems to be the only profitable business. The father of 10-year-old Nori wants to escape Kosovo, too, but without his son. Nori is supposed to remain with his uncle. When Nori is in hospital one day, his father Gezim (45) takes advantage of the situation and secretly hits the road. In order to follow his father, Nori steals his uncle’s wedding money and teams up with his friend Valentina (30). Together they, too, leave for Germany. Valentina wants to be reunited with her husband, but does not have sufficient money for a journey on her own. After a horrifying trip they reach Germany. To get rid of the illegal child, Valentina’s husband helps find Nori’s father. When father and son meet, Gezim is thunderstruck. But Nori, still deeply disappointed, beats him with a chair. Nori quickly sees that his father is weak and unable to deal with the situation. Gezim is soon to be deported: the fact that Nori is now illegally in the country does not make things any easier. His father cannot even take him into the refugee hostel, so they secretly climb over the fence at night. Gezim sees moving to the Netherlands with his son as his last hope. He demands that Valentina’s husband return the money with which she came to Germany, but he refuses and beats up Gezim in front of his son. When they try to climb the fence again, the father gets stuck. The barbed wire cuts into his flesh. Gezim, hanging on the fence, tells his son to run away to avoid their deportation. Nori runs away. Visar Morina Jonas Katzenstein Director’s statement Kosovo during the 1990s. The social climate during that time is hard to describe. The amazing thing was not so much the prewar atmosphere itself but rather the way people dealt with it: the constant state of fear had become so normal for everyone that, as long as there was no immediate threat, we actually forgot about it. It was prompted by experiences like these and by my own escape to Germany that I had the idea for this film. It tells a very personal and subjective father-son story in times of foreign domination. I don’t want to make a political statement: the context is far too complex. So I focused on my personal experiences while writing the screenplay. There is hardly any scene in it I haven’t experienced myself or witnessed in my immediate surroundings. Current status €415,000 secured in Germany and Kosovo. Shooting planned Fall 2013. Aims at the HFM Looking for a Dutch co-producer. Maximilian Leo Director Visar Morina Producers Jonas Katzenstein Maximilian Leo Co-producer Visar Krusha (Kosovo) Broadcaster WDR (Germany) Screenwriter Visar Morina Based on an original story Languages Albanian, Serbian, German Genre Drama Running time 90 mins Budget approx €1,500,000 Contact augenschein Filmproduktion Lupustrasse 36 50670 Köln Germany Tel: + 49 221 16 95 05 00 Email: [email protected] www.augenschein-filmproduktion.de 2012 GERMAN / DUTCH PRODUCERS MEETING 5 Beleza Film Falk Nagel Jessica Landt Company profile Projects Beleza Film, headed by Jessica Landt and Falk Nagel, produces feature films, documentaries and audiovisual products for the national and international markets. From the very beginning, our projects have had a strong international objective. In 2010, Beleza organised the film workshop ‘One Day in the West Bank’ together with 10 young filmmakers in Palestine in co-operation with the Goethe-Institut in Ramallah. Other completed projects are the short film Little Red (nominated for the Berlin Today Award 2011), which was directed by Eva Pervolovici, and several other short films. Currently in post-production is the documentary Make Me a Match, about matchmaking in Israel. The Turkish-German co-production Küf premiered in this year’s Venice Critic’s Week. We are in development with the feature documentary I Am a B-Boy, about break-dancing, and the transmedia project Tell Me Who You Are/ yourbeat.org has just been launched. A feature documentary about Australian pianist David Helfgott is in production. Little Red (2011) Short; director Eva Pervolovici; funded by Medienboard BerlinBrandenburg Premiere: February 2011 Küf (Mold, 2012) Feature; director Ali Aydin; co-production with Motiva Film and Yeni Sinemacılar; backed by Turkish Ministry of Culture, Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein Premiere: Venice Critic’s Week 2012 Tell Me Who You Are (2012) Transmedia project/dance platform, backed by First Motion, Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, European Union, Baltic Sea Region, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg Launch: September 2012 Mach mir ein Date (Make Me a Match, 2012) Documentary feature; director Wendla Nölle, backed by Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein Release: End of 2012 Helfgott (2013); feature documentary; director Cosima Lange In production I Am a B-Boy (2013) Feature documentary; director Eric Ellena; co-production with French Connection Films (Paris); backed by Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée, Procirep/Angoa Contact Beleza Film GbR Jenfelder Allee 80 22045 Hamburg Germany Tel: + 49 40 66 88 47 78 Anklamer Strasse 4 10115 Berlin Germany Tel: + 49 30 70 03 46 30 Email: [email protected] www.belezafilm.de 6 GERMAN / DUTCH PRODUCERS MEETING 2012 Endorphine Production Company profile Endorphine Production is an independent production company based in Berlin and dedicated to producing films which appeal to the international market. The company was founded in 2004 by German Film & TV Academy Berlin (dffb) graduates Marc Malze and Fabian Massah, who also gained experience as line producers on feature films such as the award-winning drama 4 Minutes. Massah is also a member of the ACE producers’ network and of the European Producers Club. The company’s German/Turkish/Dutch co-production Men on the Bridge, directed by Asli Özge, was completed in 2009 and won Best Film awards at festivals in Istanbul, Ankara, London and Adana. Following its international premieres in Locarno and Toronto, the film has been shown at more than 40 film festivals to date, including Rotterdam, Goa and Thessaloniki. It has also been released in Germany, the UK, the US, Turkey and the Netherlands, with France, Romania, Hungary and other countries still to come. Upcoming feature films in development include Unsettled, the fiction debut of writer/director Willem Droste, which was funded by the German/Polish Co-Development Fund and is co-produced by Opus Film from Lodz; and the English language supernatural thriller Rehab, directed by Marc Malze, which is currently being packaged with an international cast. Endorphine Production is also involved as a co-producer in the upcoming feature films Land, directed by Jan-Willem van Ewijk, a Dutch/German/M0roccan/Belgian co-production, which received funding from the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg; Luton, a Greek/German co-production directed by Mihalis Konstantatos; and Arunoday (Sunrise), an Indian/German/Netherlands coproduction directed by Partho Sen-Gupta, which was selected for the Locarno Film Festival’s Open Doors market in 2011. Fabian Massah Contact Endorphine Production GmbH Schliemannstrasse 5 10437 Berlin Germany Tel: + 49 30 28 86 77 77 Email: [email protected] www.endorphineproduction.com 2012 GERMAN / DUTCH PRODUCERS MEETING 7 Gringo Films Company profile Gringo Films is a feature film company based in Cologne, Germany. Our work is to develop and produce strong cinematic stories that appeal across borders. To this end, Gringo specialises in international co-productions, both as a majority and minority partner. Gringo was founded in 2008 by Steve Hudson and Sonja Ewers. Collectively, their experience in international co-productions includes True North, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and went on to win numerous international awards; and Lebanon, which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Gringo’s next film, Bethlehem, is currently in post-production. 8 GERMAN / DUTCH PRODUCERS MEETING 2012 Project Duisburg Logline The true story of the bloodiest mafia killing in German history. Synopsis 12 March, 2009. A tactical police unit storms an unprepossessing flat on the outskirts of Amsterdam. The police arrest Giovanni Strangio, 28 - the man identified by the authorities and the media as responsible for the Duisburg massacre of 14 August, 2007. On that day, six young men were executed by machine pistol in front of an Italian restaurant. One had been celebrating his 18th birthday that very evening. In his pocket, the burnt image of the Archangel Michael - a sign that he had just been initiated into the ‘Ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia. In return for lifelong loyalty, he was promised protection until the day he died. The Duisburg killings were the highpoint and finale of a brutal vendetta that had lasted 16 years. This feud stretched back from Germany’s post-industrial wasteland to San Luca, a village high in the Calabrian Aspromonte, in whose cramped underground bunkers the bosses of the ‘Ndrangheta lie hidden from the police - and each other. Neither the victims in Duisburg nor their murderers had much to do with the vendetta. They were simply pawns in a larger game, put there to kill and be killed. The massacre - like Strangio’s arrest - was above all a theatrical performance designed to show the world that the powers that be had regained control, and order had been restored. Through unprecedented, unpublished Carabinieri wiretap transcripts and court protocols, Duisburg brings the dead back to life, to tell both their own self-mythologizing tales of heroism, self-sacrifice and revenge, and to reveal the banality, pettiness and brute incompetence of organised criminality in everyday life. Ultimately, everyone – be it the media, the police, or the mafia - has more to gain by emphasising the former. Duisburg flips the coin to show the reality beneath. Steve Hudson Director’s statement “Aren’t you afraid?”, people sometimes ask. In fact, the risk is essentially zero - there’s nothing in Duisburg that hasn’t already been through the courts. But the vague, generalised fear behind this question is fascinating, since it is the true source of the ’Ndrangheta’s power. The sub-text is clear: don’t get involved, look away - this is a big frightening monster that will bite your head off. It’s not just the ‘Ndrangheta who benefit from this fear. Journalists use it to sell papers, the police to lobby for higher budgets. We all love monsters. But the real monster is much more interesting than that… not just ruthless, cynical and violent, but also incompetent and banal. At times, we see the human face behind the monster mask. And that’s when it’s most frightening of all. Current status In development Aims at the HFM Looking for a Dutch co-producer Sonja Ewers Director Steve Hudson Producer Sonja Ewers Screenwriter Steve Hudson Based on authentic material Languages German, Italian Genre Crime epic Running time 120 mins Target audience Male, 18-49 Budget €3,500,000 Contact Gringo Films GmbH Neue Maastrichter Strasse 12-14, 50672 Köln Germany Tel: + 49 221 16 84 26 58 Email: [email protected] www.gringo-films.com 2012 GERMAN / DUTCH PRODUCERS MEETING 9 Weydemann Bros Company profile Weydemann Bros was founded on November 2008 in Berlin, Germany and opened a second office in January 2011 in Cologne. The company produces films for the national and international markets. We have a vision of a narrative cinema that is both entertaining and political. For us, film always involves a critical look at the world and the times we live in. With our films, we do not only hope to get people laughing and crying, but to inform them and make them think. Project Europe’s Borderlands Europas Grenzen Logline An exploration of Europe’s borders, both in their literal geographical sense and in their metaphorical sense of freedom of movement and openness. Synopsis German filmmaker Jakob Preuss sets out to explore the periphery of the European Union – the geographical borders as well as the borders of identity and integration. As a child growing up in West Berlin, Preuss lived with the physical presence of the Berlin Wall every day. Now, after the reunification of Germany, the Schengen Agreement and the enlargement of the European Union to include the former Soviet satellites of Eastern Europe, the nearest land border lies about 1000 km away from his home. Jakob starts a personal journey to find out what these borders look like today. Are there new Berlin Walls out there? Who protects them and who is in charge? Are they doomed to vanish or do they have a definite character? Who determined them and does their actual placement make sense? What do they mean for the people living on either side of them? In the course of the journey we meet different people in very different locations. Some risk their life to protect the borders, some risk their lives to cross them, some make a living by trading or smuggling goods across them, some want to abolish them and some are just bored to death by waiting in the passport and customs queues. Europe’s Borderlands is both a melancholic meditation and a persistent examination of the political situation, underpinned by one crucial question: will the European Union replace sovereign national states any time soon? 10 GERMAN / DUTCH PRODUCERS MEETING 2012 Jakob Preuss Jonas Weydemann Director’s statement I have always been fascinated by the European idea. I grew up in West Berlin, surrounded by a border, the Berlin Wall. When I was 16, I moved to France. Afterwards, I spent some time in Spain and later studied law in Cologne and in Paris. For my civil service, I went to work in Russia, after having done a Master’s degree at the College of Europe in Warsaw. Wherever I went, borders seemed to be disappearing. Heavily guarded frontiers became somehow anachronistic in Europe. But this could be deceptive. The outer borders of the European Union might soon resemble the former Berlin wall. Borders are making a comeback and there are more of them in today’s world than ever before. Did we just move that wall that once separated the Cold War opponents further to the south and the east? What does the reality of life at these borders look like? And what do people living at them think about the EU? I want to follow these questions, looking for personal stories at the outer borders of the EU, to find out more about the idea of Europe as a cosmopolitan community of values - something I was advocating so ardently when I was a student. Current status In development. Partners attached: ZDF Kleines Fernsehspiel; Film & Medienstiftung NRW Jakob D. Weydemann Director Jakob Preuss Producers Jonas Weydemann Jakob D. Weydemann Screenwriter Jakob Preuss Languages Polish, Greek, English, German Genre Documentary Format HD, 16:9 Running time Two versions - 80 mins and 52 mins Target audience 45-65 Budget €467,200 Aims at the HFM Looking for co-producer(s) and world sales. Contact Weydemann Bros. GmbH Körnerstrasse 45 50823 Köln Germany Tel: +49 221 63 06 05 29-0 Email: [email protected] www.weydemannbros.com 2012 GERMAN / DUTCH PRODUCERS MEETING 11 zischlermann filmproduktion Company profile Susanne Mann and Paul Zischler both studied production at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb). The company, working in the German regions of Berlin, Brandenburg, Saxony and Baden-Württemberg, was formed some three years ago and has produced two feature films, one documentary and several shorts. We also work with other companies (film, TV and commercials) as line producers and production managers on a freelance basis. We are interested in both fictional and non-fiction stories: that is where our hearts beat strongest. Our goal, in addition to regionally located films, is to make international co-productions. We have been nominated twice for the Robert Bosch C0Production Prize for projects from Serbia; have twice been nominated for German Film Awards for our shorts; and were also nominated for a European Film Award for one of our shorts. Because of our network of contacts and regular crew, we are able to make films on a limited budget, while our experiences working with international teams have confirmed that, in the long run, we want to be part of stories from parts of the world whose people and places are far from our own. 12 GERMAN / DUTCH PRODUCERS MEETING 2012 Susanne Mann Susanne took part in several national and international productions as a production assistant and coordinator over five years. In her own responsibility projects like commercials („Michael Ballhaus Environment Initiative“, „Give Chances – German public children aid“), Imagefilms (Philipp Morris, Dubai Properties u.a.), Musicvideos („Juli – Dieses Leben“) und shorts (z.B. „What´s left“, „The New Dawn“, „The world is your oyster“ a.o.) she got nominated, together with her associate Paul Zischler, for the German Film Award and the European Film Award. She also works on a freelance basis for partner companies like Komplizenfilm, New Road Movies, Lagofilm and cine+ filmproduction. Paul Zischler Paul worked as a producer on several commercials and imagefilm-productions (“Hewlett Packard”, “Audi”, “Pepsi”), Musicvideos (“Juli”) and shorts as VERWEHTE starring Ulrich Mühe (for ARTE), the German- Israeli NACHTGEBET (financed by Medienboard and nominated for First Steps ), WHAT´S LEFT (as above). He also took part in the Feature Documentary “Football under Cover” (Winner First Steps, Berlinale 2008), worked for Wim Wenders “PALERMO SHOOTING”. Together with Susanne he coproduced the ZDF- Das kleine Fernsehspiel „Like Sailors“ with his company, which was shown at competition at Max-Ophüls Festival 2010 and Festival of German Film. As an assistant producer he joined “A Dangerous Method” by David Cronenberg in Berlin, Cologne und Vienna as well as for companies like Essential Film/ Coproduction Office, Cine Plus Production und New Road Movies. Susanne Mann Paul Zischler Filmography In distribution Adams Ende (Max-Ophüls-Award 2011, Diagonale Competition 2011), dir: Richard Wilhelmer; feature, associate producer Not in My Backyard (Premiere: Locarno 2011; opening film, Semaine de la Critique, Max-Ophüls; competition, IDFA 2012; Planète Doc Warsaw; Doc Ville Leuven), dir: Matthias Bittner; documentary; co-producer In post-production Land of the Free (working title), dir: Moritz Laube; political satire; expected release: January 2013; producer In production War 0f Lies (working title), dir: Matthias Bittner; documentary; producer Codename Pirat, dir: Eric Asch; documentary; co-producer with Imbiss Film, Munich Financing Humidity (working title), dir: Nikola Ljuca; drama; co-producer with Dartfilm (Serbia), ASAP Films (France) Miss Julie (working title), dir: Liv Ullmann; drama; co-producer with Maipo Films (Norway); Miss Julie Ltd, The Apocalypse Film Co, UK In development The Eremites (working title), dir: Ronny Trocker; drama; producer The Fifth Colour (working title), dir: Heiko Aufdermauer; drama; executive producer Shadows (working title), dir: York-Fabian Raabe; sci-fi; producer Other Life (working title), dir: tba; sci-fi; producer Contact zischlermann Filmproduktion GmbH Alexandrinstrasse 4 10969 Berlin Germany Tel: + 49 30 577 09 75 20 Email: [email protected] www.zischlermann.com 2012 GERMAN / DUTCH PRODUCERS MEETING 13 Baldr Film Company profile Baldr Film is the newly-founded production company of Katja Draaijer and Frank Hoeve. For many years, the pair collaborated at production company Ijswater Films, where they worked on such titles as Deep, Skin, Win/Win and the international co-productions 22 May, Ellektra and Headrush. They have branched out on their own to make films that represent their personal vision. With Baldr Film, they will focus on developing and producing features and documentaries for a select number of filmmakers with a distinctive personal signature. In doing so, they plan to offer support in matters of content, so that the form and originality of the production always comes first. Their aim is for Baldr Film to develop into a company that produces innovative projects for an international market – a place where emerging, talented filmmakers feel at home. Katja Draaijer obtained her doctorate at the University of Amsterdam in cultural studies & film and television studies. She worked for 12 years at Ijswater Films as head of development and producer for fiction projects and documentaries. Since 2010, she has been a freelance script editor for fiction projects and a member of the advisory committee for feature films at the Netherlands Film Fund. Frank Hoeve graduated from the Haarlem Business School with a bachelor of economics degree. In 2004, he attended a course in film studies at the University of Barcelona. He worked as a producer at Ijswater Films for six years and for one year at Talent United, where he is still attached to the feature film Ola’s Universe (dir: Coco Schrijber) as executive producer. Projects in production Sevilla, short fiction; dir: Bram Schouw; in co-production with NTR; supported by the Netherlands Film Fund, Dutch Cultural Media Fund & the CoBo Fund. Little Mo, short documentary; dir: Sjoerd Oostrik; in co-production with VPRO; supported by the Dutch Cultural Media Fund. Aims at the HFM Discussing projects. Seeking sales agent and international distribution partners for Ola’s Universe by Coco Schrijber Frank Hoeve Contact BALDR Film Oudezijds Achterburgwal 77 1012 DC Amsterdam Tel. +31 6 16080755 E-mail [email protected] www.baldrfilm.nl 14 GERMAN / DUTCH PRODUCERS MEETING 2012 Pupkin Film Company profile Pupkin Film is a Dutch production company based in Amsterdam. We produce feature films and television drama based on bold and thought-provoking stories. We hope to inspire the widest possible audience. We work with authentic filmmakers and we are proud of the long-lasting relationships we have built with all our partners. The company’s three producers/owners are Sander van Meurs, Pieter Kuijpers and Iris Otten. Our latest projects are the series Godforsaken, Freshers and Doctor Cheezy; and the features Manslaughter, Bellicher, Cel and The Deflowering of Eva van End. Aims at the HFM While producing our latest feature film, The Deflowering of Eva van End, which premiered in Toronto, we found that Dutch and Germans get along just fine; the film has a German actor in the lead role, has a German sales agent on board but is a typically Dutch film. Pupkin has yet to find the right production partner in Germany; hopefully this will change after September 29. Iris Otten Contact Pupkin Film Weesperzijde 4 Amsterdam 1091 EA Netherlands Tel: +31 20 489 5088 Email: [email protected] www.pupkin.com 2012 GERMAN / DUTCH PRODUCERS MEETING 15 CTM LEV Pictures Company profile CTM LEV Pictures is the result of the recent merger between CTM Films and LEV Pictures, and is run by Denis Wigman and Sander Verdonk, who have between them over 30 years’ experience in producing feature films and documentaries. The projects initiated by CTM LEV Pictures are characterised by originality, creativity and – always - an eye for commercial and international potential. Recent credits include the documentary Anton Corbijn Inside Out, which premiered this year in the Berlinale Special programme and is being sold worldwide by HanWay Films; and the feature Plan C. The latter recently had its world premiere at the Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, with Protagonist handling the international sales and XYZ Films the US remake rights. Over the last few years, CTM Films and LEV Pictures have won many prizes, including a Golden Calf for Best TV Drama with Inside; Best Dutch Short for Sunset From a Rooftop; and, at Clermont-Ferrand, the Audience Award and prize for Best Comedy for Sugar. The company has many new projects in the pipeline, with both new and established directors. These include Satan’s Sonata from Alejandro Agresti. 16 GERMAN / DUTCH PRODUCERS MEETING 2012 Project Kessels Logline Kessels is the outrageous account of an unplanned trip by writer Frans and his favourite character, J. Kessels in an old Toyota Kamikaze to the Hamburg Reeperbahn. It’s a quest to return a philandering crook to his wife, and finally fulfill Frans’s prepubescent sexual dreams. Synopsis Frans, a crime writer, is finishing the opening line of his new bestseller - “It all started with one of those telephone calls that you hope you won’t receive” – when the phone starts to ring annoyingly in his study. Frans answers it… and off goes the film! Kessels is both a hilarious road movie and a bittersweet trip down memory lane. The film is a crazy ride in a flame-trimmed Toyota Kamikaze from provincial Tilburg to the Hamburg Reeperbahn and back. It’s also a hallucinatory trip through the mind of an author who no longer knows if his novel is a product of his own imagination or if he is a supporting character in someone else’s story. The lead character is J. Kessels, a chain-smoking tough guy with a heart of gold. Kessels and Frans are ageing youngsters who like nothing better than to consume nicotine, beer and country & western music. However, in Frans’s novels, Kessels and he are fearless crime fighters - heroes! - who create a flurry of misunderstanding wherever they go. The man at the other end of the phone asks Frans if he and Kessels want to travel to Hamburg to kidnap a philandering criminal and return him to his wife. Frans accepts the task because the caller is the younger brother of BB, aka Brigitte, the scorching hot stunner from a diner called The Old Days, who was once the focus of little Frans’s pre-pubescent sexual dreams and awakening. Frans expects that, after 35 years of lonesome wandering and writing, the trip will finally drive him into the arms of the object of his childhood affection. The missing person case doesn’t amount to much; but what don’t the two come across along the way? Steaming tarmac, burning rubber and J. Kessels’s Kamikaze. Booze and nicotine binges. Deafening country & western. Totenköpfe. Reeperbahn Sander Verdonk porn versus courtly love. Flying Burritos. Prostitutes. A Turkish pimp who quickly becomes a bothersome corpse in the trunk of Kessels’s car. Recalcitrant characters – even Kessels goes on the run with Frans’s ingeniously constructed plot. And Frans has still to meet BB, who is also – small oversight on Frans’s part– pushing 50. Kessels is an adaptation of J. Kessels the Novel, the cult literary work by P.F. Thomése. Filmography Erik de Bruyn – Director Erik de Bruyn’s first feature WILD MUSSELS was the opening film at the Dutch Film Festival 2000. Nominated for Best Script and Best Actor, it received the Dutch Film Critics Award of Best Film, the Russian Film Critic Award and the Youth Award for Best Film. Ten years later, it has become a Dutch cult classic. In September 2007 NADINE, Erik’s second feature film was released. The film was Opening Film at the International Mannheim Heidelberg Film Festival. His third feature film THE PRESIDENT, a comedy, was released in 2011. Erik de Bruyn also directed several short films (SPRING SONG 2005) Nominated for the NPS Award, THE WITNESS (nominated as BEST SHORT Golden Calf 2006 and winner of the Best Short Film Award of the Italian Republic, IFF Montecatini) and many commercials. Erik de Bruyn is also a scriptwriter. Erik de Bruyn Producers Sander Verdonk Denis Wigman Director Erik de Bruyn Screenwriter Jan Eilander Based on J. Kessels: The Novel by P.F. Thomése Languages Dutch, German Genre Absurdist road movie Format HD Running time 90 mins Target Audience primary men/women, 35+, arthouse; secondary, students, 20-28 Budget €1,400,000 Current status Finished script; financing. Aims at the HFM To find German and Belgian co-producers, as well as meeting international distributors and sales agents. Contact CTM LEV Pictures Emmastraat 21 1211 NE Hilversum Netherlands Tel: +31 35 647 40 40 Email: [email protected] 2012 GERMAN / DUTCH PRODUCERS MEETING 17 Keren Cogan Films & Phanta Vision Film International Company profile Keren Cogan was born in Beer – Sheva, Israel in 1981. In 1993 she moved to the Netherlands. As she always had a passion for film, she started working on film sets in various positions. After a few wanderings she began studying production at the Dutch Film Academy (NFTA) in 2004. In her third year at the Academy Keren worked as a junior producer (internship) at Phanta Vision Film International. In 2009 Keren graduated, working as a producer on two films: the documentary film TZIRK by Nova van Dijk and fiction film WES by Peter Hoogendoorn (Cineville Audience Award 2009,Leids Film festival IJzeren Haring Award 2010, Cinestud film festival Audience Award 2010). After graduating Keren got the chance to start her own company Keren Cogan Films in partnership with Phanta Visions Film International, working on the development and financing of various film projects, of which the first one KATTENKWAAD (Cat and Mice). (Dutch entry Academy Awards Life Action Short 2010, Best Short Live Action Film (15 and under) Palm Springs International Shortfest). She is now bust financing a feature film BETWEEN 10.00 -12.00 by director Peter Hoogendoorn, and has two Israeli co-productions in postproduction. Filmography Keren Cogan Films 2012 2010 2009 2008 Show Me Love, short fiction; dir: Peter Hoogendoorn Kattenkwaad, short fiction; dir: Nova van Dijk 8 hoog, short fiction; dir: Galed Hamed Wes, short fiction; dir: Peter Hoogendoorn Tzirk, short documentary; dir: Nova van Dijk Filmography Phanta Vision Film International 2012 Istanbul, feature; dir: Ferenc Török 2010 Kattenkwaad, short fiction; dir: Nova van Dijk 2009 Great Kills Road, feature; dir: Tjebbo Penning Piet Esser: Verbeelden van het zien, documentary; dir: Hansje Ran 18 GERMAN / DUTCH PRODUCERS MEETING 2012 Project Between 10 and 12 Tussen 10.00-12.00 Logline When it comes to death, life is full of futility. This futility colours our perception of time - time that passes, that is lived and is being experienced. Time stops for no one, is irreversible and can pass agonisingly slowly. Synopsis On a beautiful summer’s day, two policemen are on their way to bring a family the news that their daughter has died in a car accident… At that moment two young lovers, Raymond and Katja, unaware of any of this, have just begun a new day. They are preparing to go to the beach. Just as Katja is boiling her four-minute egg, with the beach bag already packed, the doorbell rings… The warm sand is exchanged for the plastic-protected back seat of the police car heading for Gerard, the father of the deceased girl. We glide in a straight line across the city, until we arrive at the bus depot where Gerard works. Unaware of what has happened, Gerard tells one of his employees off, tries to tie his tie, eats some bits of apple and sees a police car in the distance - a police car out of which steps his son Raymond… The ordinary working day in which the time passes as always has given way to the back seat of a police car where time seems to stand still. Again, we glide in a straight line across the city until we meet Cristina, the mother of the dead girl, who is at work and worrying about a run in her tights… Until she sees Gerard. Keren Cogan Peter Hoogendoorn Director’s filmography 2012 Show Me Love, premiere at NFF 2009 Wes (graduation film; Cineville Audience Award, Leids Filmfestival; Ijzeren Haring Award; Cinestud Filmfestival Audience Award) 2009 Earth Water, commercial 2008 Lost Persons Area, making of Spaarlamp, commercial 2008 Broers, short 2007 Liefje kom je nou nog? Zonder morgen 2006 Le lait, le lait Kleurenblind 2005 Doen Mijn plek 2004 Acrofobia, Duistere Openbaringen Award 2000 The Hoover, First Prize Reject Filmfestival Petra Goedings Producer Keren Cogan Director Peter Hoogendoorn Screenplay Peter Hoogendoorn Based on an original story Language Dutch Format Digital Length 90 mins Budget €1,463,725 Current status Financing. Aims at the HFM Seeking co-production partners / International sales. Contact Keren Cogan Films & Phanta Vision Film International Gijsbrecht van Aemstelstraat 16-18 1091 TC Amsterdam Netherlands Tel: +31 6 48 33 32 44 Email: [email protected] www.kerencoganfilms.com www.phantavision.com 2012 GERMAN / DUTCH PRODUCERS MEETING 19 Smarthouse Films “Smarthouse = Commercial arthouse or vice versa, linking music, arts and graphic design into the world of film, serving a young global audience.” Company profile Danielle Guirguis started her career working for production company Fu Works on Tim Oliehoek’s Vet Hard and Paul Verhoeven’s Black Book. She then joined Academy Award winning Eyeworks Film & TV, as an Assistant Producer and Marketing Manager on The Letter for the King and later as Executive Producer on Reinout Oerlemans’ Stricken and Antoinette Beumer’s The happy Housewife. In 2010 she set up her own production company Smarthouse Films that focuses on commercial arthouse or vice versa, linking music, arts and graphic design into the world of film and documentary, serving a young global audience. In 2011 she produced the short Undertow, selected for the Netherlands Film Festival and in 2012 the short film Ten Minutes Left. Besides, she freelances for Dutch production company Shooting Star Filmcompany, for which she produced Furious and De Groeten van Mike. 20 GERMAN / DUTCH PRODUCERS MEETING 2012 Project La Holandesa Logline What happens to a woman when her desire to become a mother cannot be fulfilled? Synopsis Maud (40) has only one desire: to become a mother. Although doctors have told her this is not going to happen, Maud still has sparks of hope. Her boyfriend Frank (43) tries to save their fragile relationship by taking Maud to Chile and trying to get her to focus on a future for the two of them. But he soon discovers that Maud is desperately holding onto the idea of having a baby and that nothing will stop her. He can’t bear to see her destroying herself and leaves. Maud stays on alone in Chile and loses all connection with herself and reality. She has only one overwhelming goal: to have a child no matter what. In a desperate attempt to keep herself sane, she invents Messi, an eight-year-old who keeps her company and prevents her from doing things she would regret. He has no expectations and loves her unconditionally. But during her trip from the cold majesty of the south of Chile to the sweltering desert in the north, Maud starts to realise that she, not a child, is the only one who can make herself happy. So she has to let go of her dream. And of Messi. Danielle Guirguis Writer’s statement La Holandesa is a film about desire and a person’s drive to fulfill this desire, whatever it takes. For Maud, the desire to become a mother is under her skin. It’s her oxygen; it keeps her going. Threatening her sanity, it is destructive for her relationship both with herself and with Frank. Being a woman who can’t have children myself and having had some desperate moments as well, I was wondering how far a woman would go and what it would bring her. How do you go from (false) hope to denial and even despair and finally acceptance? That’s what I would like to explore with La Holandesa. Maud does not just feel the pain of not having what she wants: she also starts to feel like an outsider. She doesn’t think much of herself as a woman. On her road trip through beautiful Chile - I see the landscape as a major character in the film - Maud leaves victims and chaos, something you wouldn’t think of her doing in her better days. Fortunately, there is the invented Messi, the only positive factor in her life. But Maud also realises that Messi can’t be with her for ever. In the end, La Holandesa, is a film about hope - hope that there are other desires and things to live for - and beauty in every person. Daan Gielis Producer Danielle Guirguis Director tbc Screenplay Daan Gielis Languages Dutch, Spanish, English Genre Drama Shooting format RED Length 90mins Target audience Women, 25-45 Current status La Holandesa originated as the short film Undertow which Daan Gielis wrote and Danielle Guirguis produced. The script is being developed at the ‘Script & Pitch’ lab in Turin and is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund. Within the next couple of months, we will attach a director and apply to the Netherlands Film Fund for production money. Shooting is scheduled for autumn 2013. Aims at the HFM To find a co-production partner for a Dutch project to be shot in Chile, plus a sales agent and a broadcaster. Contact Smarthouse Films Amstel 352 1017 AS Amsterdam Netherlands Tel: + 31 6 21 24 37 31 Email: [email protected] www.smarthousefilms.nl 2012 GERMAN / DUTCH PRODUCERS MEETING 21 Smarthouse Films Project Carmen’s World Logline Carmen lives in her own dream world, in which everything revolves around her, until the moment she falls madly in love with a male version of herself. Then he dumps her, and Carmen is transformed into a goddess of vengeance… 22 GERMAN / DUTCH PRODUCERS MEETING 2012 Synopsis Carmen: it’s all about Carmen. That is how she sees the world and that is how she shapes it. She can’t help it; her father has always told his little princess that life is what you make of it and that she could have everything she always wanted. Now she is an art student in her twenties. Her father was right: what she wishes for happens and this is how she lives in her magic-realist dream. Every Tuesday, she buys her dad a present. The other day it was The Encyclopaedia of Psychoactive Drugs, Series 2: Bad Trips. Emil from Iceland is a vegetarian and is hopelessly in love with Carmen. He knows he doesn’t stand a chance and accepts the ‘best friend’ role. He kills seagulls as a side job, to make sure they die with dignity. He drops them off at the abattoir. At a food-fight-party, covered in liverwurst, Carmen meets Chris. For a moment, her world stops. From then on, it’s all about Chris. Carmen’s aunts try to warn her but she won’t listen. Carmen and Chris tour the canals of Amsterdam, go swimming for a day in Nice, and have the best sex ever. This is how love is meant to be, just like in the movies. Emil is history. In Paris, where Chris’s parents have an apartment, things start to change. But, blinded by love, Carmen doesn’t notice a thing. And then it’s over. Carmen has met her male version, seduced him and suffocated him. For the first time in her life, she’s been dumped. Emil is allowed back into her life to comfort her, but instead he makes her furious. Nobody understands her. She has to do something so she can slip back into her dream world. She can’t live like this. Neither can Chris. Chris has to die. Only then will it be all about Carmen again. Stephane Kaas Writer’s statement Carmen: egocentric and raised with the idea that everything can be achieved in life. She meets Chris, a male version of herself. He also believes he is completely in control of his own world, which he can shape and mold in every way. They fall in love. He dumps her, she is furious, he is dead. That is one way to look at this story. What makes the story interesting and worthwhile is the radically individualistic and egocentric aspect of the characters. Conforming to the zeitgeist, their focus is on fun. Everything they do is driven by the thought that it should be fun and amazing, as far away as possible from mediocrity. But fun is like a Big Mac: you stuff it in and you’re hungry again. Only the moment of consumption is pleasant, but that is followed by a hung-over feeling, a void. In Carmen’s magical-realist world, there is only one way out of the void; Chris must die, so the world, the stars and the planets can get back into balance again. Current status Carmen’s World is in development; a treatment is available and, within the next couple of months, the script will be written and we will start financing. Shooting is scheduled for autumn 2013. Director Stephane Kaas Screenplay Tjeerd Posthuma Based on the book Alles is Carmen by Alma Mathijsen Producer Danielle Guirguis Language Dutch Genre Magic realism/crossover Shooting format RED Length 90 mins Budget €1,000,000 Target audience 25-45 male/female Aims at the HFM To find a co-production partner, a sales agent and a broadcaster. Contact Smarthouse Films Amstel 352 1017 AS Amsterdam Netherlands Tel: + 31 6 21 24 37 31 Email: [email protected] www.smarthousefilms.nl 2012 GERMAN / DUTCH PRODUCERS MEETING 23 Smarthouse Films Project Dutch Dance – Afrojack in the House Logline Immerse yourself in the energetic, mega cool and crazy world of Dutch dance music. With superstar DJ/producer Afrojack’s career as a leitmotiv, the film seeks to answer the question of where the massive international Dutch success in this field comes from. 24 GERMAN / DUTCH PRODUCERS MEETING 2012 Synopsis Armin van Buuren, Tiësto, Fedde le Grand, Chuckie and the hottest DJ/producer of this moment, Afrojack, have millions of fans all over the world and make shitloads of money with their gigs. The Dutch, in case you hadn’t noticed, are taking over. For 25 years, dance has been deeply rooted in urban youth culture and nightlife and DJ’s have grown to be superstars. Never before were the Dutch so involved and influential on the international pop scene. The film seeks answers to the question of where the success of the Dutch in this field comes from, using the career of Afrojack as a leitmotiv throughout the film. The 24-year-old Nick van de Wall from Spijkenisse, a suburb of Rotterdam, makes over $150,000 for a gig, remixes the records of Madonna, Lady Gaga and Rihanna and headlines the biggest international festivals and clubs like the Ultra Music Festival, Coachella, Sensation and the notorious Pacha on Ibiza. He was nominated twice for a Grammy Award and won once. It seems as if Afrojack has been catapulted out of nothing into stardom, but nothing could be further from the truth. He is only the latest in a long line of successful Dutch DJs such as Armin van Buuren, Tiësto, Ferry Corsten, Chuckie, Fedde le Grand, Laidback Luke, Junkie XL, Michel de Heij, Sander Kleijnenberg, DJ Jean, Paul Elstack and Speedy J. We go back to the roots of dance music, originating in the 1980s, touching upon different musical trends and the drug culture, the rise of massive raves and festivals like Sensation and Dance Valley in the 1990s, to where we are now: a Dutch sound built around a high-pitched synth packing bags of explosive energy and hip-hop attitude into a four-four template, with chopped vocal snippets and military drums giving it a European slant comparable to US club music. The crisis of the 1980s was reflected in the music of that era: negative and ‘against’. The booming economy of the 1990s brought along a positive, creative and loving sound, enforced by the new drug XTC, while the 2000s were characterised by a fin de siècle mentality of huge raves where people partied like there was no tomorrow. Can these elements help us explain the rise of a true Dutch sound that gradually finds its way onto a world stage, bringing an underground sound to the overground? Sacha Vermeulen Director’s statement The film will portray Afrojack’s life as a DJ/popstar in a critically observational style, intercutting his story with the history of dance, fuelled by interviews with experts from the dance scene (DJs and journalists) and social experts (sociologists, drug experts, cultural anthropologists). A non-chronological eclectic visual style will be adopted, complete with witty animation and voice-overs, delivering an entertaining and ground-breaking insight into something deeply rooted in modern-day society. Current status In pre-production. Shooting October 2012 – July 2013. Due to premiere at the Amsterdam Dance Event, October 2013. Aims at the HFM To find a broadcaster, distributor and sales agent. Director Sacha Vermeulen Producer Danielle Guirguis Writers Sacha Vermeulen Danielle Guirguis Editor Bas Icke Camera tbc Featuring Afrojack Armin van Buuren Tiësto Laidback Luke Fedde Le Grand David Guetta and many more Genre Eclectic music documentary with graphic elements Running time 52 mins for TV; 75 mins for theatrical release Language English Shooting format Canon 7D Budget €150,000 Contact Smarthouse Films Amstel 352 1017 AS Amsterdam Netherlands Tel: + 31 6 21 24 37 31 Email: [email protected] www.smarthousefilms.nl 2012 GERMAN / DUTCH PRODUCERS MEETING 25 Viking Film Company profile Viking Film aims to be cross-border and to make high quality films for both Dutch and international audiences with a special focus on international arthouse, children’s and family films, and animation films. Viking has two films in post-production the short animation films Goodbye Mister De Vries (dir: Mascha Halberstad) and As Boys Grow (dir: Charlotte van Otterloo) - and the co-production Leones, by the Argentine director Jazmin Lopez, which was selected for Venice 2012. 26 GERMAN / DUTCH PRODUCERS MEETING 2012 Project Luna Logline After his sudden death, Luna discovers that her lover Boris had been leading a double life. Numb and confused, she secretly runs away. In the world of truckers, craving for the child she has left behind, Luna tries to start mourning. Synopsis When the love of her life, Boris (44), a lorry driver with a strong and captivating personality, is killed in an accident, Luna (36) finds out that he’s been leading a double life. As it turns out, he was married to someone else and had a second family all along. The shock of both the sudden loss and the long-term deceit causes her to collapse. In this state, as she struggles with strong and contrasting emotions, the very sight of her daughter, Pien (5), who needs her now more than ever but who is also the living evidence of both love and lies, becomes unbearable for her. After the funeral, during which we witness how sincerely loved Boris was by many people and how hard the blow of his deception must have been, Luna’s pain grows to the point where, on the spur of the moment, she dumps Pien, leaving her in the garden of the other family. On the run after having done that, she wanders aimlessly, bursting with anger, grief and remorse. The only way she can vent her raw emotions is by singing - an instinctive survival strategy. And thus the process of getting over her loss slowly begins. Sacha Polak Director’s statement Luna shows the beautiful and ugly sides of life, a quality typical of screenwriter Helena van der Meulen. The same goes for the subject: heavy at first sight, but never depressing and always touching. The power and the beauty of the images and the music that plays an important role in the film will strengthen this even more. The plan for Luna stems from the idea of writing a screenplay with a main part for the famous Dutch singer Wende Snijders, an expressive as well as intriguing personality. The arena is that of truckers: transport cafes, pull-ins, lay-bys, motels, petrol station shops, red-light districts - all places offering brief contacts for those who are on the road and don’t want to stay anywhere. We believe Luna has the potential to reach a wider international audience. We look forward to making an artistic film with a wide reach and a higher level of ambition by working together with Wende, but also by organising the film as internationally as possible both in content and in financing. Part of the cast can be German and Belgian, which enlarges our casting opportunities immensely. We want to make a film that is Dutch but actually feels un-Dutch, giving it crossover possibilities in the Dutch release as well as in its international distribution and festival potential. Current status At the moment, we are working on the final draft of the script and are setting up the international financing together with coproducers A Private View (Belgium) and La Dolce Vita (France). We are still looking for a German co-producer. The project has been selected for the Berlinale Residency, where we can work in close contact with individually selected mentors and market experts to finalise the script and develop production and distribution strategies on the way to a successful (inter) national theatrical and festival release. Aims at the HFM We are searching for an enthusiastic German co-producer to work closely with us on the project. We would like to be able to apply to the Film und Medienstiftung NRW and nordmedia, in whose areas important parts of the film will be shot. Director Sacha Polak Screenwriter Helena van der Meulen Based on an original story Producer Marleen Slot Languages Dutch, German, English, French Genre Road movie Format tbc Running time 90 mins Target audience 18+ Budget €1,600,000 Helena van der Meulen Marleen Slot Contact Viking Film Lindengracht 17 1015 KB Amsterdam Netherlands Tel: +31 20 625 4788 Email: [email protected] www.vikingfilm.nl 2012 GERMAN / DUTCH PRODUCERS MEETING 27 32Nd NeTherlaNdS film feSTival SepTemBer 26 - ocToBer 05, 2012 filmfeSTival.Nl