Projects
Projects
The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine
Original title: La Fabulosa Máquina de Cosechar Oro
Directed by: Alfredo Pourailly
Produced by: Francisco Hervé (Juntos Films, Chile), Alfredo Pourailly (55 Sur Media, Chile), Annemiek van der Hell (Windmill Film, Netherlands)
Country of production: Chile, Netherlands
Runtime: 75'
Expected release: January/February, 2023
Production stage: Post Production
Budget: €162,000 (100% in place)
1st feature: Yes
Looking for: Festivals
Synopsis:
Toto, the last gold digger in Tierra del Fuego is 62, his body is severely damaged by his work, and feels close to death. But he can’t stop working: he is not qualified for social security. His cowboy son Jorge designs a machine that should bring them a better future.
Director’s profile:
Founder of the production company 55 Sur Media. Director and producer of documentary film, documentary photographer and Master in Heritage. He currently works as a producer and director of the cinematographic, photographic and cultural management projects that 55 Sur Media develops with the aim of safeguarding, valuing and disseminating the cultural, historical and natural heritage of Chile. He received a Master’s degree in World Heritage and Cultural Projects for Development, taught by the University of Barcelona, the University of Turin and ITCILO. He is currently directing his debut documentary La Tierra del Fuego in co-production with Juntos Films.
Producers’s profile:
Francisco Hervé is a film director, screenwriter and producer. He has developed feature films such as El Poder de la Palabra, Hija, Los Castores, La Ciudad Perdida, among others, all of them premiered at the most important festivals in the world, obtaining awards such as the Altazor, Pudú, Paoa and the Pedro Sienna. His most recent premiere, as producer and co-writer, was the feature film El Otro winner in the Burning Lights category at the Vision Du Reel festival, Switzerland – and has accumulated more than 10 international awards -. He is currently preparing the premiere of Immersion, by Nicolás Postiglione, a film in which he is a producer, and new projects for film and television. He is part of the international network of Eurodoc producers, and is a professor at the University of Chile and the Catholic University of Chile.
Twice Colonized
Original title: Twice Colonized
Directed by: Lin Alluna
Produced by: Emile Hertling Péronard (Ánorâk Film, Greenland & Denmark), Alethea Arnaquq-Baril (Red Marrow Media, Canada), Stacey Aglok MacDonald (Red Marrow Media, Canada) and Bob Moore (EyeSteelFilm, Canada)
Country of production: Greenland, Denmark, Canada
Runtime: 90', 60', 48'
Expected release: January, 2023
Production stage: Post production
Budget: €916,584 (90% in place)
1st feature: Yes
Looking for: Sales agents, distributors, buyers, outreach, festivals
Synopsis:
Renowned Inuit lawyer Aaju Peter fights to ensure Indigenous people a seat in European policy when her son suddenly dies by suicide and she embarks on a personal journey writing her story. At the same time she struggles to break free from an abusive relationship, but as tension builds, a key question arises: is it possible to change the world and yourself at the same time?
Director’s profile:
Lin expresses herself through international, character-driven documentaries. She aims to portray brave women who want to change themselves and the world, while cinematically exploring how to amplify their stories to an audience by challenging the limits of reality. From 2013-2017 she was admitted to the National Film School of Denmark as one of only six directors. Lin has been selected one of the new Nordic Talents by Nordic Film and Television, and is a Euroimage grantee as well as a IDFA Academy, UnionDocs, DFI Outreach and Circle Doc Accelerator lab fellow. Lin is chair member at the Danish Film Directors association and the film director’s representative adviser at the Danish Artists Council, as well as co-founder and spokesperson for Oplysningsgruppen (NGO for higher education of filmmakers in Denmark).
Producers’s profile:
Producers Emile Hertling Péronard and Alethea Arnaquq-Baril are both Inuit producers, but from opposite sides of the colonial borders that Denmark and Canada have imposed on their people. Emile produces authentic stories in a Greenlandic context for international audiences, while promoting Indigenous film content, as well as improving the general conditions for Indigenous filmmakers. Alethea is based in Iqaluit, the same town where Aaju lives, she has worked with Aaju on several projects, and has archive footage of Aaju going back around 15 years. Twice Colonized will be the first formal co-production between Inuit from Greenland and Canada. The collaborative aspects of Lins work methods with Aaju, Emile and Alethea is enabling us to come together as a team and tell this very important story from a unique, insider perspective.
When We Were 15 (us, 15)
Category: Ukrainian Features Preview
Directed by: Anna Buryachkova
Produced by: Natalia Libet, Vitalii Sheremetiev (Digital Religion (DGTL RLGN) LLC)
Country of production: Ukraine
Original title: Koly nam bulo 15
Genre: Feature film
Language: Ukrainian
Runtime: 90
Completed in: 2023
Synopsis:
15-year old Tonya is the new girl at school. She is facing questions of her ex-boyfriend abuse, dealing with her sexuality and accepting loneliness while trying to find her place in the adult world.
Clap
Genre: Animation
Produced by: Hiroko Fujioka, Katsutoshi Machiba, Tetsuya Ohashi, WOWOW, CinemaLeap
Directed by: Keisuke Itoh
Original title: Clap
Lead artist: Keisuke Itoh
Runtime: 13min
Language: Non-dialogue (Just a few instruction in English)
Completed in: 2021
Synopsis:
One rainy day, « thread man » is walking down an alley when an empty can falls in front of him. He tries to create the sound himself by wearing the can on his foot and starts to dance.
Soon a crowd of people gather around him, and the sound of applause grows ever louder, though with the increased volume comes increased pressure.
Why did the thread man become scared of the sound of clapping?
When your heartfelt applause reaches the thread man, which signals the beginning of a beautiful sound.
Director’s statement:
« Clap » is a work of VR animation that you can experience simply by clapping your hands. A number of meanings are imbued in that single action, however, making the interaction of « Clap » quite profound.
Life doesn’t always go as we like, and we sometimes get depressed. At times like that, I invite you to encourage others, and yourself as well, through « Clap. »
All right, then. Clap your hands a lot with a positive attitude!
Origin: Japan
Devices: Oculus Quest series
Platform: VeeR
Hostile Dimensions
Category: Buyers Showcase
Directed by: Graham Hughes
Produced by: Graham Hughes & Evrim Ersoy (Blue Finch Film Releasing)
Country of production: United Kingdom
Genre: Horror, Science-fiction
Language: English
When a graffiti artist seemingly ‘vanishes’, two documentary filmmakers must travel through alternate dimensions, facing their worst nightmares to uncover the truth.
Pesta
Category: Proof of Concept
Directed by: Hanne Berkaak
Produced by: Tonje Skar Reiersen & Lise Fearnley (Mikrofilm)
Country of production: Norway
Genre: Folk Horror
Language: Norwegian
Set in Norway during the Black Plague (1349), PESTA is a romantic folk horror film about four teenagers fighting to survive as the world as they know it is coming to an end.
One-dimensional Man
Category: Tallinn Black Nights Goes to Cannes
Directed by: Andres Puustusmaa
Produced by: Katerina Monastyrskaya, Roberts Vinovskis (Leo Films, Studio Locomotive)
Country of production: Estonia, Latvia
Original title: ÜHEMÕÕTMELINE MEES
Language: Estonian, English, Russian, Chinese
Runtime: 105 min
Completed in: 2023
Raul was raised in a violent and pathological attitude, blindly driven by communist ideology. Driven by his jealousy of his wife and her bohemian lifestyle, Viktor, being a high ranking KGB officer, stated her as a predator against the Soviet nation, and one early morning she is taken by KGB agents.
Tish
Original title: Tish
Directed by: Paul SNG
Produced by: Jennifer CORCORAN (Freya Films, UK)
Country of production: United Kingdom
Runtime: 90', 60'
Expected release: June, 2023
Production stage: Post-production
Budget: €380.000 (100% in place)
1st feature: No
Looking for: Festivals, Sales Agents / Distributors, Buyers, Strategic Guidance
Synopsis:
Tish Murtha was a photographer whose images of people on the margins of society in Thatcher’s Britain challenged and documented the inequality she herself had suffered. Despite early acclaim Tish was unable to make a living from photography and she died in poverty. Tish’s daughter Ella explores why she did not receive her due and what her work tells us about the value placed on working-class communities.
Director’s profile:
Paul Sng is a bi-racial British Chinese filmmaker based in Edinburgh, Scotland whose work focuses on people who challenge the status quo. His work has been broadcast on television and screened internationally. His feature film credits include DISPOSSESSION and POLY STYRENE: I AM A CLICHE (winner of BIFA 2021 Best Documentary, BIFA 2021 Raindance Discovery Award). He is a BAFTA Breakthrough 2022/23 artist.
Producer’s profile:
Jen Corcoran is a creative producer based in Newcastle, UK. Jen established Freya Films with a focus on thoughtful, contemporary storytelling and narratives from the margins across both documentary and fiction. Jen’s BIFA-nominated documentary NASCONDINO [HIDE AND SEEK] (BFI Doc Society Fund) premiered In Competition at LFF 2021 and CPH:DOX 2022 while her previous work has played at Tribeca, Sheffield DocFest and BFI Flare among others. Jen led award-winning regional development programme Tees Valley Screen between 2019-2020 and is a freelance film programmer and lecturer.
Mama no himitsu
Original title: Mama no himitsu
Directed by: Laurence LÉVESQUE
Produced by: Catherine BOILY (Metafilms, Canada), Rosalie CHICOINE PERREAULT (Metafilms, Canada)
Country of production: Canada
Runtime: 90'
Expected release: January, 2023
Production stage: Post-production
Budget: $499.640 (100% in place)
1st feature: Yes
Looking for: Festivals, Sales Agents, Distributors, Buyers
Synopsis:
Noriko Oi, a Japanese-Canadian woman, returns to her native land in the hopes of reviving her deceased mother’s memories, a survivor of the Nagasaki atomic bomb, while emptying her childhood home. What is left of memories when families’ secrets are locked away and end up casting a shadow over the collective recollections?
Director’s profile:
In 2017, Laurence directed a short fiction film, DRAP CONTOUR, which won several international awards. She then signed a short documentary, PORT D’ATTACHE, in 2019. The film was selected at the prestigious Visions du Réel, won the Best National Short Film Award at RIDM and was nominated for best short film at the Québec-Cinéma gala. In 2022, Laurence completes a master’s degree in which she reflects on documentary writing and directing. MAMA NO HIMITSU is her first feature film.
Producer’s profile:
After graduating from the Los Angeles City College Theatre Academy in 2012 where she studied acting, Catherine Boily then started to get involved as a producer on various projects. Moving back to Montreal in 2015, she met Sylvain Corbeil and Nancy Grant from Metafilms, with whom she’s been working with since. Under Metafilms, Catherine has produced many short films and music videos, in addition to working multiple positions on feature films shot in Canada, the United States, Czech Republic, England and Namibia. Most recently, she was also an Executive Producer with Martin Scorcese on the latest Paul Schrader movie The Card Counter, which had its world premiere at the 2021 Biennale. Catherine is now developing emerging talents’ feature films projects at Metafilms.
Rosalie Chicoine Perreault searches for projects and filmmakers with a unique vision that stand out from the current cinematographic landscape, both in fiction and documentary. Amongst her most recent projects, GEOGRAPHIES OF SOLITUDE (Jacquelyn Mills, 2022), her first feature documentary, was awarded three prizes during its world premiere at the 72nd Berlinale, in addition to winning Best Canadian Feature at Hot Docs. «
Once Upon a Time in a Forest (WT)
Original title: Olipa kerran metsä (WT)
Directed by: Virpi SUUTARI
Produced by: Virpi SUUTARI (Euphoria film oy, Finland)
Country of production: Finland
Runtime: 90', 120'
Expected release: April, 2024
Production stage: 4/5 shot, editing has started
Budget: €455.000 (90 % in place)
1st feature: No
Looking for: Festival Premiere, Other Festivals, Distributor, Gap Financing, Strategic Guidance
Synopsis:
Once Upon a Time in a Forest is a film about brave young people who are defending one of the last coniferous forest areas in Europe. It is a morality play and a love story of a younger generation whose main object of love is the Finnish forest. This cinematic documentary explores environmental feelings and witnesses how the 22-year old protagonist Ida grows up to be the leader of the new Forest Movement.
Director’s profile:
Virpi Suutari is an award winning filmmaker known for her personal cinematic style and emotional narratives that often challenge the borderline between documentary and fiction. One of her most beloved films is The Garden Lovers (2014). Her films have been shown in the major festivals such as IDFA, Visions du Réel, CPH: DOX, Locarno and Gothenburg film festival. Her latest feature documentary AALTO (2020) on architect Alvar & Aino Aalto has been distributed all over the world. The Idle Ones (2002) was nominated for the Best European Documentary (EFA) and she has won several awards as the best nordic documentary. Suutari has received the national film academy award, the Jussi Award, three times. Suutari has also worked as a journalist in the major newspapers in Finland. She is the member of the European Film Academy and the honorary Doctor of Arts in the University of Lapland.
Producer’s profile:
Virpi Suutari is an experienced and an award winning documentary film maker. She has worked in this field for almost 30 years and she is now one of the main owners of Euphoria film, a film production company based in Helsinki.
In the recent years Suutari has produced some of her own films such as short films Elegance (2016) and A People’s radio – Ballads from a Wooded Country (2021) and a feature documentary AALTO (2020) which has been distributed by Autlook filmsales and sold widely across the world.