Posted by Larry Gleeson

36 Attractive Feature Film Projects Searching for International Partners at the Berlinale Co-Production Market

At the 14th edition of the Berlinale Co-Production Market (February 12 to 15, 2017) a selection of 36 promising feature-film projects from 29 countries will come together with a wide range of potential co-production and funding partners from around the world. In addition, the market will be presenting several respected production companies in the scope of their exclusive “Company Matching Programme”.

To aid the producers of the selected projects and companies, the Berlinale Co-Production Market team is organizing a total of approximately 1,200 one-on-one meetings with interested potential partners from a participant pool made up of 550 producers, world sales agents, broadcasters, distributors, film funds and financiers from all across the world.

For the official project selection, 20 promising feature-film projects with budgets ranging from 750,000 euros to eleven million euros were chosen from a total of 323 submissions. They will be presented by internationally experienced producers and have all either already secured production funding from their native countries or have at least been able to cover 30% of their projected financing needs to date.

In the scope of the “Rotterdam Berlinale Express”, three additional film projects will take part both in the CineMart Rotterdam and the Berlinale Co-Production Market.

Ten newcomers to the world of international film production will also be presenting their projects at the “Talent Project Market”, which is organized in co-operation with Berlinale Talents. These attendees were chosen from an additional 178 submitted projects.

Among the directors of the selected projects are familiar names such as Hans Petter Moland (In Order of Disappearance, A Somewhat Gentle Man, The Beautiful Country), whose films have already been featured three times in the official Berlinale programme, Agnieszka Holland, whose most recent film Spoor is celebrating its premiere at this year’s Berlinale, as well as further directors of Competition films from the past years, including for instance Lou Ye (Blind Massage), Celina Murga (The Third Side of the River), Anne Zohra Berrached (24 Weeks) and Laura Bispuri (Sworn Virgin).

In the category “Berlinale Directors”, three projects from directors whose previous films were shown at the Berlinale will be presented; though these productions are still in a very early stage of development from a financing perspective, they are considered so promising that they can already benefit from finding co-operation partners in order to ease their way to the big screen.

In addition to the meetings with potential partners, which are arranged individually to satisfy the concrete needs of each project, there are also three awards available: the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award, worth 20,000 euros, the VFF Talent Highlight Award, worth 10,000 euros, and the ARTE International Prize, worth 6,000 euros, will all be given away at the Berlinale Co-Production Market.

The four already confirmed companies featured in the “Company Matching Programme” come from Germany, France, Israel and Norway. The 550 other participants can also request one-on-one meetings with them in order to exchange information on a structural level or on the basis of project slates and move towards exploring the possibility of long-term co-operation.

There are at least two films screening in the festival programme of the upcoming Berlinale which were presented at the Berlinale Co-Production Market as projects in previous years and met partners: Una mujer fantástica (A fantastic woman) by Sebastián Lelio, which is part of the Competition, and Mulher do pai (Nalu on the Border) by Cristiane Oliveira, which is being shown in Generation 14plus.

The primary partners of the Berlinale Co-Production Market are the MDM – Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung and Creative Europe MEDIA, a programme of the European Union.

The Berlinale Co-Production Market is a part of the European Film Market.
The Berlin House of Representatives, which is located right across from the European Film Market in the Martin-Gropius-Bau, will once again serve as a co-operation partner and main venue for the event.

Official project selection for Berlinale Co-Production Market 2017
(in alphabetical order by production company):
– Where the Summer Went (D: Beatriz Sanchis), Animal de Luz Films, Mexico
– Psychobitch (D: Martin Lund), Ape&Bjørn, Norway
– 7500 (D: Patrick Vollrath), Augenschein Filmproduktion, Germany
– Irene (D: Celina Murga), Cepa Audiovisual & Tresmilmundos Cine, Argentina
– The Ski Jumper Who Didn’t Want to Land (D: Hans Petter Moland), Chezville & Storyline Studios, Norway
– Overgod (D: Gabriel Mascaro), Desvia Produções, Brazil
– Clear Blue (D: Lindsay MacKay), Devonshire Productions, Canada
– Man’s Fate (D: Lou Ye), Dream Factory, China & Chinese Shadows, Hong Kong, China
– The Deer (D: Bogdan George Apetri), Fantascope, Romania
– The Monster Within (D: Rodrigo Susarte), Forastero, Chile
– Lost Country (D: Vladimir Perisic), KinoElektron, France, Trilema, Serbia & MPM Film, France
– Benigno Cruz (D: Jorge Hernandez Aldana), La Pandilla Producciones, Venezuela & Lucía Films & Paloma Negra Films, Mexico
– Eloe (D: Piotr Złotorowicz), Lava Films, Poland
– Charlatan (D: Agnieszka Holland), Marlene Film Production, Czech Republic
– A Film by Verner Holm (D: Jannik Johansen), Profile Pictures, Denmark
– Blanquita (D: Fernando Guzzoni), QuijoteRampante, Chile
– Paloma’s Wedding (D: Marcelo Gomes), Rec Produtores, Brazil
– Waiting for an Angel (D: Akin Omotoso), Rififi Pictures, South Africa & Triptych Media, Canada
– Dead Noon (D: Jeff Desom), Samsa Film, Luxembourg
– Daughter of Mine (D: Laura Bispuri), Vivo Film, Italy

“Berlinale Directors” projects:
– Ten Thousand Happiness (D: Johnny Ma), Image X Productions, China
– Colour of the Skull (D: Sibs Shongwe-La Mer), Mille et Une Productions, France
– Zorro (D: Ronny Trocker), Zischlermann Filmproduktion, Germany

“Rotterdam Berlinale Express”:
– Girls of the Sun (D: Eva Husson), Maneki Films, France
– Jumpman (D: Ivan I. Tverdovsky), New People Film Company, Russia
– The Wife of the Pilot (D: Anne Zohra Berrached), Razor Film Produktion, Germany

“Talent Project Market” – projects and selected production talents (in alphabetical order by production company):
– The Deposit (P: Eva Sigurdardottir), Askja Films, Iceland
– MNK Boy (P: Aydin Dehzad), Kaliber Film, Netherlands / Turkey
– Shock Labor (P: Maria Carla del Rio), Marinca Filmes, Cuba
– The Bus to Amerika (P: Nefes Polat), Mars Production, Turkey
– The Space Between (P: Angela Lee), Nifty Pictures, USA
– Memoryland (P/D: Quy Bui), Pixelholic Media, Vietnam
– Tomorrow is a Long Time (P: Jeremy Chua), Potocol, Singapore
– Never the Bright Lights (P: Tonee Acejo), Quiapost Productions, Philippines
– You Will Die at Twenty (P: Hossam Elouan), Transit Films, Egypt / Sudan
– Breaking Surface (P: Julia Gebauer), Way Creative Films, Sweden

Company Matching (in alphabetical order by company):
Black Sheep Film Productions, Israel
Haut et Court, France
Mer Film, Norway
Weydemann Bros., Germany

(Source: Berlinale Press Office)