The first Venice Production Bridge – the Festival film market’s evolution into a specialized meeting point for completing projects – was held from September 1-5, 2016 at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival. The VPB re-proposed and expanded on the Venice Gap-Financing Market and Final Cut in Venice programs, making the most of the experience of the Biennale College – Cinema.

This first edition of the Venice Production Bridge registered 1,767 accreditations, including 758 Industry Gold accreditations (a 35% increase in this latter figure, compared to 2015).

Here are the final figures of the 2016 VENICE PRODUCTION BRIDGE:

·  GAP FINANCING MARKET (2-4 September): 448 pre-organized meetings were held for the 25 Fiction and Documentary projects, and 158 meetings for the 15 Virtual Reality/TV series/Web series. Fifty meetings were added directly on-site for all 40 projects.  Thus, a total of 606 encounters were re-organized, for a grand total of 656 meetings for the 40 projects over the two and a half days.

·  BOOK ADAPTATION RIGHTS AREA (2-3 September): over 250 meetings were organized over the two days for the 15 editors.

·  FINAL CUT IN VENICE (3-5 September): of the 6 projects presented in the selection, 4 films won the Final Cut prizes (***)

·  EUROPEAN FILM FORUM OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION

The European Film Forum was held on September 3-4, with the participation of the European Commissioner for the Digital Single Market, Günther Oettinger, and the Director-General of DG Connect, Roberto Viola. The European Film Forum organized two workshops, on access to financing for the creative industries and on the future of cinemas.

· 6 STANDS OPERATED IN THE VPB EXHIBIT AREAS:  

· PANELS AND EVENTS ORGANIZED AT THE MEETING SPACE  

· VPB MARKET SCREENINGS ORGANIZED

· DIGITAL VIDEO LIBRARY:

FELICITY / FÉLICITÉ  by Alain Gomis (France/Senegal/Belgium) Producer: Arnaud Dommerc received the following prizes:

–  Sub-Ti Ltd. (London) will offer up to € 7,000 to make a DCP master and Italian or English subtitles;

–  Sub-Ti Access Srl (Turin) will offer up to € 7,000 for a version accessible to people with sensorial disabilities;

–  Rai Cinema will offer € 5,000 to purchase the broadcasting rights for two years;

–  Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) will offer € 5,000 to reimburse costs incurred during post-production.

THE WOUND / ISIKO by John Trengove (South Africa/Germany/France/Holland) Producer: Elias Ribeiro received the following prizes:

–  Mactari Mixing Auditorium (Paris) will offer up to € 15,000 to make the sound mix;

–  Titra Film (Paris) will offer up to € 10,000 for digital color correction, and to make a DCP master and French or English subtitles.

GHOST HUNTING / ISTIYAD ASHBA by Raed Andoni (Palestine/France/Switzerland) Producer: Palmyre Badinie received the following prizes:

–  Laser Film (Rome) will offer € 15,000 for the color correction of a feature film, totaling up to 50 work hours (including technician);

–  The Festival International du Film d’Amiens will participate in the cost of making a DCP.

OBSCURE / OTMAH by Soudade Kaadan (Syria/Lebanon) Producer: Salma Kaf received the following prizes:

–  MAD Solutions will offer marketing, advertising and distribution in the Arab world;

–  The Festival International de Films de Fribourg will participate in the cost of making a DCP.

(Source:www.labiennale.org)