Projects
Projects
The Second Woman
Category: Proof of Concept
Directed by: Zach Gayne
Produced by: Precious Chong (Party Hunks Inc.)
Country of production: Canada
Genre: Dark Thriller, Horror
Language: English
A Canadian literary legend tucked away in an Algonquin Park cabin writing her final memoirs fights for her life and her sanity when a stalker attacks her perception of reality.
Dead Enders
Category: Fantastic 7
Directed by: Fidel Ruiz-Healy and Tyler Walker
Produced by: Fidel Ruiz-Healy and Tyler Walker
Country of production: USA
Original title: Dead Enders
Genre: Comedy, Coming-of-Age, Horror
Language: English
SXSW Film & TV Festival
Dead Enders is a horror comedy about a listless slacker who must reconnect with her ex-best friend in order to stop a scourge of mind controlling bugs from taking over their small town.
Mother
Directed by: Alina Matochkina
Produced by: Eugene Rachkovsky | TABOR Production
Country of production: Ukraine
Original title: Мати
Language: Ukrainian
Runtime: 90'
Budget: 500 000 Eur
Completed in: 2025
There is a great distance between Lida and her mother, both physically and mentally, they live separately and communicate only through a laptop screen. But in order to build a personal life, Lida must first reconnect this bond, and find how to change the old patterns.
Dad’s Lullaby
Original title: Татова колискова
Directed by: Lesia Diak
Produced by: Lesia Diak (DramaFree, Ukraine), Monica Lazurean-Gorgan (FilmWays, Romania), Elena Martin (FilmWays, Romania), Dagne Vildziunaite (Just a moment, Lithuania)
Country of production: Ukraine, Romania
Runtime: 75'
Expected release: November, 2023
Production stage: Post-production, Rough cut stage
Budget: €200.050
1st feature: Yes
Looking for: Festivals, sales agents, distributors, buyers, gap financing
Synopsis:
Serhiy returns home after 3 years at war, between Ukraine and Russia, deeply burned out. He served as a commander and was responsible for other people’s lives. The veteran starts working night shifts, dedicates short hours of rest to his three sons and wife. War trauma manifests when the couple starts expecting a baby. After a large-scale invasion Serhiy is forced to defend Ukraine on the frontline again.
Director’s profile:
Lesia Diak is a Ukrainian documentary film director and producer. Before shifting career to filmmaking she worked for 7 years in the area of journalism and communications. Lesia graduated from the Serhiy Bukovsky Film Program in 2017. In 2022, she completed her studies at DocNomads, an international documentary film directing Master’s program. She created several short documentaries selected for international film festivals and primarily dedicated to trauma and healing experience. Her work-in-progress feature-length documentary debut “Dad’s Lullaby” has received the award for the best documentary film in post-production at Docu Sarajevo Talents from the East, a special mention and won the post-production grant from IDFA Bertha Fund. In 2023 Lesia founded DramaFree film production company.
Producer’s profile:
Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan is an experienced producer and a member of the AMPAS/Oscar, as well as EFA. Monica is the producer of the successful documentary Acasa, My Home by Radu Ciorniciuc, winner of the Sundance Cinematography Award and other 40 international awards, delegate producer for Touch Me Not by Adina Pintilie and co-producer for Chuck Norris vs Communism by Ilinca Calugareanu. Monica is the director for feature length documentaries such as A Mere Breath, winner of Best Doc in Sarajevo IFF, Best Doc in CEE Vienna IFF, co-director of Wood, premiered in HotDocs and CPH:Dox 2020 etc.
Shivamma
Category: Film Bazaar Goes to Cannes
Directed by: Jai Shankar
Produced by: Rishab Shetty, Rishab Shetty Films
Country of production: India
Original title: Shivamma
Genre: Feature film
Language: Kannada
Runtime: 105min
Completed in: 2022
Shivamma (46), a poverty-stricken woman invests her hard-earned money in a network Marketing business to make some quick money which puts her daughter’s imminent marriage on stake.
The Glass House
Category: Tallinn Black Nights Goes to Cannes
Directed by: Taras Dron
Produced by: Igor Savychenko (Directory films) Valeria Sochyvets (Contemporary Ukrainian Сinema) Rodrigo Ruiz Tarazona (Сіnelab) Taras Dron (Nord Production)
Country of production: Ukraine, Romania
Original title: Дім за склом
Genre: Feature film
Language: Ukrainian
Runtime: 100min
Completed in: July 2022
A young girl disappears with her older boyfriend. Victoria, the mother of the missing girl, has a seemingly perfect life. It is suspected that the daughter is involved in drug trafficking. But Victoria is less frightened by the dangerous world of drugs, than losing her picture-perfect reputation.
The Vessel’s Isle
Category: HAF Goes to Cannes
Directed by: WANG Di
Produced by: XU Ruijing
Country of production: China
Original title: 不游海水的鯨
Genre: Feature film
Language: Putonghua, Yunnan Dialect
Runtime: 171min
Completed in: 2022
Dissolved in an unknown time, lost travellers in a small town enter a short and murky dream in which they meet the unknown and seek eternity.
PANELLINION
Category: Thessaloniki Goes to Cannes
Directed by: Spyros Mantzavinos, Kostas Antarachas
Produced by: Leonidas Konstantarakos, Alaska FIlms
Country of production: Greece
Original title: ΠΑΝΕΛΛΗΝΙΟΝ
Genre: Documentary
Language: Greek
Runtime: 80min
Completed in: 2022
Panellinion is an out-of-place-and-time chess coffeehouse in the center of Athens; a refuge for those who suffocate in modern life. Giannis, the owner, hates chess, yet has a fatherly affection for his regulars, who see consolation in it. Teared up, they recall old stories, roister, drink and sing.
Genre: Horror, Science-fiction
Language: English
A veteran recovering from addiction returns to the intentional community she once called home in search of her missing friend, but finds that it has been infiltrated by an otherworldly force.
Street Trash
Category: Proof of Concept
Directed by: Ryan Kruger
Produced by: Justin Martell [Not The Funeral Home], Matt Manjourides [Not The Funeral Home], James C. Williamson [The Department of Special Projects], Ryan Kruger
Country of production: United States, South Africa
Genre: Comedy, Horror
Language: English
A group of homeless misfits must fight for survival when they discover a plot to exterminate every homeless person in the city.