Projects unveiled for the Northern Seas Film Forum at the St Petersburg International Media Forum.

Projects by Elena Hazanov and Klaus Harö are among 24 titles being presented at the 2nd Northern Seas Film Forum (Oct 6-8) co-production market during the inaugural St Petersburg International Media Forum (Oct 1-11).

One project is No Tolstoy about the legendary writer’s wife and family fighting over his inheritance after his death.

Andrey Zvyagintsev, who won best screenplay at this year’s Cannes with Leviathan, is in talks with Russian producer Vasily Korvyakov and Fyodor Druzin of UK-Russian production outfit Curb Denizen to direct the $5m drama.

Russia’s Oscar selection committee yesterday submitted Leviathan to the Best Foreign Language Film category of the Academy Awards.

Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky told journalists that he would support the film’s Russian theatrical release so that it can be released on more than 1,000 prints by A Company in cooperation with 20th Century Fox Russia on Nov 13. Sony Classics will open the film in the US in December.

More NSFF projects

Druzin will also be at the Film Forum with Maksim Yakubson’s documentary Tonino’s Polverone about the collaboration between the late Italian writer Tonino Guerra and the Puppet Theatre in St Petersburg.

Meanwhile, Swiss-based director Elena Hazanov will be represented in St Petersburg with two projects: Rock Films’ production of the thriller The Stockholm Syndrome, currently at the stage of development, and a work in progress presentation by producer Anna Katchko of the drama Puppet Syndrome, starring Evgeny Mironov, Chulpan Khamatova and Merab Ninidze, as a co-production between Russia, Germany and Switzerland.

Finnish producer Kaarle Aho of Making Movies will be pitching Klaus Harö’s latest feature The Fencer, which is now in post-production and is structured as a co-production with Estonia and Germany.

UK producer Martyn Hall of ITA Productions will be looking to find partners for his $40.6m (£25m) Second World War romance drama The Bronze Horseman to be directed by commercials and music video director Sash Andranikian.

Canadian producer Julia Rosenberg of January Films will visit St Petersburg to present David Bezmozgis’ feature Natasha, a secret and forbidden teenage romance during one summer, which wrapped in Toronto recently.

Russian producer Yelena Yatsura will pitch an adaptation of Vadim Levental’s bestseller novel Masha Regina, to be directed by Margarita Mikhailova who is currently working on the feature Hit for Yatsura’s Deep Productions.

Works in progress

The works in progress will include:

  • Juri Rechinsky’s Austrian-Ukrainian co-production Ugly which is currently in the middle of shooting and follows Rechinsky’s debut feature documentary SickFuckPeople which premiered last year.

  • Estonian director Urmas Eero Liiv’s feature debut, the thriller Ghost Mountaineer, which is based on his own experiences during a winter hiking trip in Siberia in Soviet times.

  • Ulrik Wivel and Alejandro Alvarez’s documentary The New Czar about the Spanish contemporary choreographer Nacho Duato becoming the first foreigner in over 100 years to head a classical ballet company in St Petersburg.

Co-production market aficianados may have seen one or the other of the selected projects at previous pitching events such as the Sofia Meetings, Moscow Co-Production Forum or the Odessa Industry Office.

Amadeus to Volya

Around 100 professionals from the international film industry will be attending the three-day event, including sales agents Rezo Films, Fortissimo Film Sales, Breaking Glass Pictures, Amadeus Entertainment, and film funders Eurimages, nordmedia and the Polish Film Institute as well as the Rio Film Commission and the Telluride and Tribeca film festivals.

Potential co-producers to participate in one-to-one meetings with the projects’ producers will include France’s Movie Partners in Motion (MPM) and Realitism Films, the Icelandic 3D animation studio Caoz and Pegasus Pictures, Germany’s Pallas Film and Rohfilm, The Netherlands’ Revolver and Volya Film, and Norway’s Barentsfilm.

PROJECTS IN DEVELOPMENT

20 Lives, Logos Film Company -  Russia

 Imperfect Gentleman, Green Box -  Poland

 Kharms, Proline Film - Russia 

 King Of Madagaskar, Bft Movie -  Russia

 Masha Regina, Deep Communication -  Russia

 Mortido, Passenger Film Studio -  Russia

 Nanook, Red Carpet – Bulgaria

 Natasha, Natasha Films Inc. -  Canada

 No Tolstoy, Curb Denizen Prod. -  Russia

 Song For Katya, Epos Films Ltd -  Ireland

 Stockholm Syndrome, Rock Films - Russia

 The Bronze Horseman, Ita Productions Ltd. -  Uk

 The Capitalist, Zone2 Pictures Oy - Finland

 The Fencer, Making Movies Oy -  Finland/Estonia/Germany

 The Jerusalem Chronicle, Proline Film - Russia

 Tonino’s Polverone, Curb Denizen – Russia/Italy

 Work In Progress Projects

 8 Heads Of Madness, 8heads Productions - Czech Republic

 Blue Bird, Cine Fantom - Russia

 Era Of Dance, Vfs Films - Latvia 

 From The Bottom Of The Top, Production Centre Altair-C - Russia

 Ghost Mountaineer, Kopli Kinokompanii – Estonia

 Puppet Syndrome, Studio Third Rome, Petrushka Production, Departures Film – Russia/Germany/Switzerland

 The New Czar, Barok Film – Denmark/Germany/Usa/Canada/Kuwait

 Ugly, Novotny & Novotny Filmproduktion -  Austria/Ukraine

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