Korine, Kwiecinski, Fedorchenko to direct portmanteau feature for Grolsch

Harmony Korine, Jan Kwiecinski and Alexei Fedorchenko have signed on to direct a portmanteau feature for Grolsch, in collaboration with Vice Films.

Each director will film a 30-minute short in their home nation - Harmony Korine in the US, Alexsei Fedorchenko in Russia and Jan Kwiecinski in Poland – following a brief from Vice Films’ Eddie Moretti, who is overseeing the creative process.

Kids director Harmony Korine will be the first to shoot his chapter, which will star Val Kilmer as a motivational speaker at the fictional ‘Lotus Community Centre’, set in Nashville.

Fedorchenko, who scooped three jury prizes at Venice in 2010 for Silent Souls - will start shooting in Eekaterinburg in Russia. He was recently on the jury at Venice.

Meanwhile Polish short film director Kwiecinski will make his feature directorial debut with the final section of the film.

It is part of an initiative from Dutch beer company Grolsch - Grolsch Film Works - which launched in April 2011, in collaboration with VICE Films. Grolsch is already involved in the world of films, sponsoring international film festival and cinemas, as well as funding a short film initiative in Poland.

“We started this particular pillar because we wanted to make a bigger gesture than just sponsoring film festivals and cinemas,” said Thomas Kamphuis, who is heading up the programme for Grolsch. “Now we are actually making content, so that is the next level.”

Explaining the beer company’s decision to invest in films, Kamphuis added: “We want to bring interesting and inspiring content to our consumers and hopefully make them appreciate Grolsch more. I think there is a nice parralell between our brand story of craftsmanship and artistry and staying true to what you believe in, and art. We’ve chosen independent film specifically, because almost everyone has an opinion about films.”

The currently untitled feature will world premiere at Grolsch sponsored Film Festivals in the directors’ home countries - The San Franscico Film Festival in the US, the Beat Film Festival in Russia and Mlodzi i Film in Poland. The organisers hope that the film may also pick up international distribution.

“It is not a one off. Our intention is to make this a long term programme, depending on the success of this one,” said Kamphius, who revealed that Grolsch also has plans to expand into other film markets.

Moretti said: “Grolsch is serious and sincere about supporting film art. They want to add something to the global film community, something far beyond sponsorship which is why we wanted to get involved.

“At the heart of the brief is the notion of the ‘Fourth Dimension’. Each director was asked to explore what a ‘Fourth Dimension’ might be. What is it? Where is it? What does it look and sound like? What we got back from the filmmakers was in turns intense, hilarious, poignant and completely without precedent,” added Moretti.