Projects from Estonian film-maker Kadri Kousaar, Finland’s Petri Kotwica, Poland’s Bartosz Konopka and Uzbek producer-director Ella Vakkasova are among 12 projects selected for the Baltic Event Co-Production Market.
The fifth edition of the market runs this year from November 29 to December 2 during the Black Nights Film Festival in the Estonian capital of Tallinn.
Kousaar came to international attention in 2007 when her feature debut Magnus was screened at Un Certain Regard in Cannes, while Kotwica’s last feature Black Ice was in competition at the Berlinale last year and Konopka is now travelling the festival circuit with his medium-length documentary Rabbit A La Berlin about the rabbits who made home in the so-called “death strip” on the Eastern side of the Berlin Wall.
Vakkasova, a graduate of the UK National Film & Television School, will be attending the Co-Production Market with her poetic neo-realist drama Aral. It was also pitched at June’s Moscow Co-Production Forum and will be produced by fellow NFTS graduates Gavin Humphries and Anna Higgs’ London-based Quark Films.
The film-makers will be pitching their projects in one-to-one meetings with potential partners from all over Europe including sales agents Rezo Films, M-Appeal, East-West Film Distribution, Non Stop Film Sales, distributors Gutek Film, Yume Pictures, TrustNordisk and Central Partnership, and financiers includingGermany’s Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung and Strasbourg’s Eurimages.
In addition to the Co-Production Market, the Baltic Event will include the Coming Soon section with a special focus on Uzbekistan, the annual Baltic Screenings and a Literary Rights Market ‚From Books to Film’ in cooperation with this year’s Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) which runs from November 26 –December 4.
The festival will open with a gala screening of Marc Webb’s (500) Days Of Summer and close with Valeri Todorovsky’s music film Hipsters.
The Eurasia official competition lineup includes the world premiere of Napoleon Helmis’s Wedding In Bessarabia and Eastern European premieres of films such as Lee Hey-jun’s Castaway On The Moon, Byambasuren Davaa’s The Two Horses Of Genghis Khan and Buddhadev Dasgupta’s The Window.
The former Baltic Event project Vasha by Hannu Salonen is screening in the Baltic feature film competition along with titles including Ignas Miskinis’ Low Lights and Jaak Kilmi’s Disco And Atomic War.
In addition, PÖFF is collaborating with Screen International for the third year to present the Screen International Critics’ Choice showcasing four titles selected by Sceen’s global critics’ network.They are: Bruno Dumont’s Hadewlijch, Jane Campion’s Bright Star, Jacques Audiard’s A Prophet and Jessica Hausner’s Lourdes.
New to the festival this year is the Black Market Industry Screenings held from November 30 to December 3. They will focus on new films from Central and Eastern Europe, the Baltic region and Nordic countries, Russia and Central Asia.
A programme of around 50 features and documentaries includes FilmFestival Cottbus winner The 40th Door by Elchin Musaoglu (Azerbaijan), The Conflict Zone by Vano Burduli (Georgia), Last Cowboy Standing by Zaida Bergroth (Finland), and Kino Karavan by Titus Muntean (Romania).
Complete line-up of Co-Production Market projects:
A Kronstadt Tale (Russia)
Dir: Ben van Lieshout
Prod co: Salvador D Production Company
Adalbert’s Dream (Romania)
Dir: Gabriel Achim
Prod co: Libra Film
Aral (Uzbekistan)
Dir: Ella Vakkasova
Prod co: Quark Films
Bota (Albania)
Dir: Iris Elezi
Prod co: I’s Continuum
Chamber (Hungary)
Dir: Zsombor Dyga
Prod co: Filmteam
European Psycho (Estonia)
Dir: Kadri Kõusaar
Prod co: Meteoriit
Fear Of Heights (Poland)
Dir: Bartosz Konopka
Prod co: Munk Studio
Fling A Stone, David! (Lithuania)
Dir: Sharunas Bartas
Prod co: Era Film/Kinema Studio
Paradjanov (Ukraine)
Dir: Olena Fetisova
Prod co: Interfilm Production Studio
People There (Latvia)
Dir: Aik Karapetian
Prod co: Locomotive Productions
Rat King (Finland)
Dir: Petri Kotwica
Prod co: Making Movies
Something Blue (Finland)
Dir: Hanna Maylett
Prod co: Helsinki-filmi
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