Among the 32 projects being pitched at European Work in Progress Cologne (EWIP), the pitching event held October 16-18 are Croatian- Montenegrin filmmaker Ivona Juka’s drama Strangers In The Night about LGBT filmmakers in the 1950s fighting for their liberty and freedom of speech in communist Yugoslavia.
An international audience of sales agents, distributors and festival programmers will participate at the event that takes place ahead of the Cologne Film Festival.
Further projects selected include the thriller Nothing In Its Place by Turkish director and Berlinale regular Burak Cevik. The story is inspired by the true story of five young people who believed in an unnamed socialist revolution in 1978. Cevik’s credits include The Pillar Of Salt (2018), Belonging (2019) and Forms Of Forgetting (2023) each premiered in the Berlinale Forum.
Also being pitched is Angelina Maccarone’s political drama Turning Tables, starring Lambert Wilson and Barbara Sukowa. Maccarone’s 2006 film Hounded won her the Filmmakers of the Present award in Locarno.
This year’s line-up was selected from over 180 submissions and will be in line for awards totalling €61,500.
Two innovations at this year’s EWIP will see a Benelux focus with the selection of three titles - Breathing Underwater, Fanon and Restless.
There will also be a spotlight on Africa with five projects invited to Cologne - The Night Before Easter from Ethiopia, the Nigerian production Adire and the Tunisian co-production Fanon. Little Dreamer, a co-production with Kenya and the Senegalese co-production Germaine Acogny will also be presented within the African focus, but not competing for the EWIP awards.
Members of this year’s international jury include Michael Stütz (head of the Panorma programme at the Berlinale), Holger Stern (commissioning editor ZDF/ARTE), Lorna Lee Torres (head of international sales at Magnolia Pictures), Reta Guetg (head of industry and programming at Zurich Film Festival) and Hattie Yu (film producer and consultant).
Several projects from the 2022 EWIP line-up have premiered at international film festivals this year. They include Amat Escalante’s Lost In The Night which screened in Premières in Cannes and Faouzi Bensaidi’s Deserts in Directors Fortnight.
EWIP projects for 2023
Adire (Nig)
Dir. Adeouluwa Owu
Prod. Mimi Bartels (FimOne Entertainment)
Armand Rmand (Nor/Neth/Swe/Ger)
Dir. Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel
Prod. Andrea Berentsen Ottmar (Eye Eye Pictures)
Aroma Dream (China/Fr)
Dir. Ma Xue
Prod. Ma Xue (Beijing Drama Pictures), Vincent Wang (House on Fire)
Bayo Bayo Baby (Sp/Fr)
Dir. Raúl de la Fuente & Amaia Remírez
Prod. Dominique Barneaud (Kanaki Films)
Breathing Underwater (Lux/Bel)
Dir. Eric Lamhène
Prod. Claude Waringo (Samsa Film)
Brothers (Ger/Tur)
Dir. Türker Süer
Prod. Viola Fügen, Michael Weber (MFP)
Chaos and Silence (Ger)
Dir. Anatol Schuster
Prod. Anatol Schuster (Zwilling Film)
Eternal Peace (Czech)
Dir. Vojtěch Strakatý
Prod. Marek Novák (Xova Film)
Fanon (Fr/Tun/Lux)
Dir. Jean-Claude Barny
Prod. Sébastien Onomo (Special Touch Studios)
Germaine Acogny – Romancing the Shadow (Ger/Fr/Senegal)
Dir. Greta Marie Becker
Prod. Martina Haubrich (Cala Filmproduktion GmbH)
Houses (Isr)
Dir. Veronica Nicole Tetelbaum
Prod.: Elad Gavish (Marker Films), Adi Navon (Nova Prod)
Impatience of the Heart (Ger)
Dir. Lauro Cress
Prod. Lorenzo Gandolfo (Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin GmbH)
Invisible (It/Fr)
Dir. Adele Tulli
Prod.: Laura Romano (Film Affair)
Little Dreamer (It/Kenya/Ger/Bel)
Dir.: Yasemin Şamdereli
Prods. Dietmar Güntsche (Neue Bioskop Film) , Martin Rohe (Neue Bioskop Film), Simone Catania (Indyca Film), Anja Karina Richter (Neue Bioskop Film)
Nothing in its Place (Tur/Ger/Fr/Kor)
Dir. Burak Çevik
Prod. İpek Erden (Vayka Film)
Pacifico’s Daughter (Chile/Urug/Mex/Ger)
Dir. Juan Olea
Prod. Francisco Hervé (Juntos Films), Virginia Bogliolo (Tarkio Film), Juan Bernardo González (Whisky Content), Tom Schreiber (Plotlessfilm)
Restless (Ger/It/Lux)
Dir. Elmar Imanov
Prod. Eva Blondiau (Color of May)
Second Land (Ger/It/Austria)
Dir. Michael Kofler
Prod. Wasiliki Bleser (Starhaus Filmproduktion GmbH), Martin Rattini (Helios Sustainable Films), Barbara Pichler (KGP Filmproduktion GmbH)
Simas Song (Neth/Sp/Fr/Taiwan)
Dir Roya Sadat
Prod. Alba Sotorra
Strangers in the Night (Croatia)
Dir. Ivona Juka
Prod. Anita Juka (4Film)
The Best Reward (It)
Dir. Federico Ferrone
Prod. Simone Bachini, Mario Chemello (Apapaja)
The Book of Joy (Fr)
Dir. Camille Lugan
Prod.: Saïd Hamich Benlarbi (Barney prod.)
The Cowardly Beauty (Ger)
Dir. Moritz Krämer
Prod. Jost Hering (Jost Hering Filme)
The New Illusion (Switz)
Dir. Jasmin Gordon
Prod. Brigitte Hofer (maximage)
The Night Before Easter (Ethiopia)
Dir. Dagim Sissay
Prod. Bereket Werede (History Film Company)
The Shameless (Switz/Bul/Fr/Taiwan)
Dir. Konstantin Bojanov
Prod. Palmyre Badinier (Akka Films), Rossitsa Valkanova (Klas Films) Frédéric Corvez (Urban Group), Maéva Savinien (Urban Group), Vincent Wang (House on Fire)
The Song of Breathing (Switz/It)
Dir. Simona Canonica
Prod. Amel Soudani (Amka Films)
The Wolves Always Come At Night (Mongolia/Australia/Ger)
Dir. Gabrielle Brady
Prod. Julia Niethammer (Chromosom Film), Rita Walsh (Over Here prod.s), Ariunaa Tserenpil (Guru Media)
Transamazonia (Fr/Ger/Switz/Brazil/Taiwan)
Dir. Pia Marais
Prod. Claudia Steffen (Pandora Film Produktion), Christoph Friedel (Pandora Film Produktion), Sophie Erbs (GAÏJIN)
Turning Tables (Ger)
Dir. Angelina Maccarone
Prod. Martina Haubrich, Claudia Schröter (Cala Film)
Vena (Ger)
Dir. Chiara Fleischhacker
Prod. Martin Rohé, Svenja Vanhoefer, Sophie Kühne (Neue Bioskop Film GmbH)
Waterdrop (Alb/Rom/It/Kos/North Macedonia)
Dir. Robert Budina
Prod: Sabina Kodra (Era Film), Carmen Rizac (Avanpost)
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