The winners of the 35th edition of CineMart, International Film Festival Rotterdam’s storied co-production market, have been revealed.
Of the 16 selected projects, there were four winners: Kaweh Modiri’s Dutch feature Mitra took the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award of €20,000; Gastón Solnicki’s Argentine feature Electrocute won the Filmmore Post-Production Award of €7,500; Hlynur Pálmason’s A White, White Day took the ARTE International Prize of €6,000; and Luck Razanajaona’s Disco Afrika won the Wouter Barendrecht Award, given to a director under 35-years-old, of €5,000.
The winners were presented their prizes at a ceremony in Rotterdam on Wednesday evening (Jan 31).
The 2018 edition of CineMart featured a revamped and streamlined format of presentations and meetings, changes that have been welcomed by attending industry that Screen spoke to during the festival.
The jury for the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award, which was comprised of Arben Zharku, Dorien van de Pas and Rachel Ellis, commented on selecting Mitra: “The jury was particularly impressed by the bravery of one filmmaker, who presented a very personal, delicate and urgent story that crosses generations and deals sensitively with themes of retribution, guilt and coming to terms with very deap personal loss, whilst also being a very politically important film. A classical story in some ways, but one that leaves sufficient space for ambiguity in relation to how people deal uniquely with their pain and suffering.”
The Filmmore Post-Production Award jury, Bart Van Langendonck, Anton Scholten and Annamaria Lodato, said of Electrocute: “The jury is keen to see how the director, with the backing of the producers from REI CINE, combines his qualities to put the eccentricities of the unexpected into his films with the more traditional way of storytelling he wants to use for this project. The combination of these elements bears the exiting promise of an extraordinarily film.”
The same jury also awarded the ARTE International Prize and they said of A White, White Day: “The prize is given to a talented filmmaker preparing his second feature, which will be a mystery drama dealing with love and loss and taking place in a country that is rarely present on the screens. For the quality of his previous work, for an original and powerful artistic vision and an intriguing subject, the ARTE International Prize is awarded to A White, White Day by Icelandic filmmaker Hlynur Pálmason.”
Finally, the Wouter Barendrecht Award jury, comprised of Ellis Driessen and Nelleke Driessen from the Wouter Barendrecht Film Foundation, said of Disco Afrika: “After long consideration the jury decided to give the award to a team which we think can make a true difference, both for the filmmaker and for his country’s film culture and industry. Or more precisely: the lack of the latter. We are convinced that the grant shall be well spent in the further development of this upright endeavor.”
No comments yet