Rotterdam: The Tribe director among CineMart winners

Rotterdam co-production market CineMart closed last night (Jan 28) with a hat trick of awards.

Ukrainian-German production Luxembourg was awarded the €7,000 ($7,900) ARTE International Prize.

Directed by Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy (The Tribe), the film tells a story of love and revenge based in the the area around Chernobyl - the city that was decimated during the notorious nuclear power plant disaster in 1986.

Slaboshpytskiy, who won Cannes’ Critics Week Grand Prize with deaf boarding school drama The Tribe, has based Luxembourg on his 2012 short, Nuclear Waste.

On presenting the award, producer Annamaria Lodato described Slaboshpytskiy as “a talented, daring and radical director”.

“He is preparing a film that explores a world unknown to most of us: today’s Chernobyl,” she added. “Far from being a ‘disaster film’, it is a story about living in the Chernobyl zone, a world with its own rules, an almost primitive community that the director knows from the inside.”

Luxembourg is produced by Anna Katchko with Tandem Production.

Dutch-French-Belgian production Tonic Immobility was awarded the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award of €20,000 ($23,000), which is given to a project presented by a European producer.

Directed by Nathalie Teirlinck, the film tells the story of Alice, an escort who abandons her baby son Robin. Seven years later, Alice is unexpectedly reunited with the boy and they must find a way to co-exist. Producers are Bart van Langendonck and Xavier Rombaut for Savage Film.

The inaugural Wouter Barendrecht Award went to Cuban director Carlos Lechuga and his new project Santa y Delfin. The prize of €5,000 ($5,600) was given by CineMart in conjunction with Fortissimo Films, the Netherlands/Hong Kong-based international sales agent of which Barendrecht was founder and co-chairman.

Santa y Delfin is produced by Claudia Calvino and Producciones de la 5ta Avenida. Cuba, and explores homosexuality, censorship, working class and intellectuals.

Eligible for the Wouter Barendrecht Award are directors under 35 with a project selected for CineMart who have directed no more than three feature films. The award is decided on by representatives of the Wouter Barendrecht Film Foundation, Nelleke and Ellis Driessen.

The jury for the ARTE and Eurimages awards comprised the Netherlands Film Fund’s Dorien van de Pas, producer Annamaria Lodato and Gabor Greiner, Films Boutique’s head of acquisitions.

CineMart 2015

The oldest and longest-running film festival co-production market, in its 32nd edition, selected 24 international projects to participate in the four-day event.

A panel discussion to launch IFFR’s new VoD initiative, Tiger Release, was well attended with several filmmakers now in discussion with the IFFR team on releasing their new films via this platform.

Conferences included discussions on how festivals can evolve with audiences.

The Creative Europe Day on Tuesday (Jan 27) offered advice and guidance on creating beyond the boundaries of Europe proved one of the highlights of IFFR 2015. Marit van den Elshout, IFFR’s head of industry and CineMart, said: “Our Creative Europe day was received all adds up to one of the strongest CineMart’s in a long time.”

CineMart projects 2015

A Shining Flaw by Erwin Olaf
Eyeworks Film & TV Drama, Netherlands

Cobain by Nanouk Leopold
Circe Films/Waterland Film, Netherlands

Vita & Virginia by Sacha Polak
Mirror Productions/Viking Film, United Kingdom/Netherlands

Tonic Immobility by Nathalie Teirlinck
Savage Film/CTM Pictures, Belgium/France/Netherlands

The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea by Syllas Tzoumerkas
Homemade Films/PRPL, Greece/Netherlands

Angel by Koen Mortier
CZAR FILM/Tobina Films/Anonymes Films, Belgium/Senegal/France

Ceux qui travaillent by Antoine Russbach
Box Productions, Switzerland

Cunningham by Alla Kovgan
Arsam International/Chance Operations, France/USA

La Fille de l’Estuaire by Gaëlle Denis
Life to Live Films, United Kingdom/France

Holiday by Isabella Eklöf
Dharmafilm/Beofilm, Denmark

Luxembourg by Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy
Tandem Production/Garmata Film, Ukraine/Germany

Bat, Butterfly, Moth by Sergio Caballero
Corte y Confección de Películas/AM Films, Spain

The Gray Beyond by Alejandro Fernández Almendras
Jirafa Films/Wa Entertainment, Chile/Japan

Only the Dead Have Seen the End of the War by Khavn
Kamias Overground, Philippines

Rojo by Benjamin Naishtat
Pucará Cine, Argentina

La Barracuda by Jason Cortlund & Julia Halperin
Small Drama/Hot Metal Films/Blue Suitcase Productions, USA

Boyfriend by Ashim Ahluwalia
Future East Film, India

Gabriel and the Mountain by Fellipe Barbosa
TvZero/Gamarosa Filmes, Brazil

Los Delincuentes by Rodrigo Moreno
Compañía Amateur/Rizoma, Argentina

Santa y Delfín by Carlos Lechuga
Producciones de la 5ta Avenida, Cuba

Kodokushi by Janus Victoria
Paperheart, Philippines/Malaysia/Japan

Art:Film projects

Cactus Flower by Hala Elkoussy
Transit Films, Egypt

Hurrah, Wir Leben Noch by Agnieszka Polska
Kijora Anna Gawlita/Museum of Modern Art Poland, Poland/Germany

Mr Sing Sing by Phil Collins
Shady Lane Productions, Germany/USA