Bychkova, Quabeck and Mindadze films among 12 projects submitted to German-Russian Co-Development Fund

New films by Oxana Bychkova (Land Of Good Children), Benjamin Quabeck (Last November) and Alexander Mindadze (Lieber Hans, Dorogoy Peter) are among a dozen projects which have been submitted to the new German-Russian Co-Development Fund by its first deadline of Dec 1.

The titles were revealed by Elena Romanova, head of Russian Cinema Fund’s international department, during the German-Russian Round Table in Moscow this week when representatives from the German and Russian film industries came together to learn more about the German-Russian co-production treaty and new distribution initiatives in the two countries.

Bychkova’s film, which will be produced by Natalia Mokritskaya’s New People Film Company, was presented at the co-production maket during last week’s Baltic Event, while Quabeck’s historical drama Last November had been pitched at previous editions of the Moscow Co-Production Forum and the Baltic Event.

Other projects have been submitted by such production companies as Bavaria Film, ma.ja.de, Rock Films and Klepatski Production.

The fund’s initiators – the German Federal Film Board (FFA), Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (MDM) and the Russian Cinema Fund (RCF) – will meet on Feb 8 to decide on the allocation of the funding and make an announcement during the Berlinale.

The Co-Development Fund was launched at the end of last June during the Moscow Business Square with a budget of up to €150,000 a year for the co-development of film projects, with the FFA and RCF each contributing €50,000 and Medienboard and MDM €25,000 apiece.

The Round Table was attended by such producers as Martin Moszkowicz (Constantin Film), Alexander Rodnyansky (AR Films), Stefan Arndt (X-Filme Creative Pool), Heino Deckert (ma.ja.de Film), Natalia Ivanova (Horosho Prodakshn, Igor Tolstunov (PROFIT), Karl Baumgartner (Pandora Film) and Vitaly Mansky (Vertov Realkino)

Meanwhile, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg’s CEO Kirsten Niehuus revealed to ScreenDaily during the German-Russian Round Table that her fund and the Goethe-Institut have extended the “Berlin 24/7 Artists in Residence“ programme to Mumbai and Hong Kong from 2012.

“In the past few years, there have been more and more connections between Berlin and world cinema through the many international co-productions,“ Niehuus explained. “Berlin is also an incredibly creative city where young creatives like to live, so I thought it would be good idea to offer Berlin as a working space for young film artists.”

While one filmmaker from Hong Kong and two from India would be able to spend two months next summer in the German capital to work on a project, two German filmmakers from the Berlin-Brandenburg region will have the chance to travel in the opposite direction to Mumbai and another German colleague to go to Hong Kong.

The grant for all participants in Mumbai, Hong Kong and Berlin-Brandenburg covers travel and accommodation costs, a monthly stipend and support in making contacts with the respective local industry. The deadline for applications is Jan 16, 2012.

Four years ago, Medienboard’s first “Berlin 24/7” residence was launched with Israel and has already seen such participants as Samuel Maoz (Lebanon), screenwriter Suha Arraf (The Lemon Tree), and Itamar Alcalay who is now developing the feature Cascade Of Glass with Berlin-based production house Rohfilm.