20 19 - le groupe ouest
TRANSCRIPT
Supported by CreativeEurope – MEDIA Programmeof the European Union,LIM | Less is More is led by Le Groupe Ouest (France),developed with Control N (Romania),Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds – VAF (Belgium),Krakow Festival Office – KBF (Poland),and the Transilvania International Film Festival – TIFF (Romania),in partnership with the Lithuanian Film Centre,the Norwegian Film Institute,as well as North Macedonia Film Agency.
The European development programme for limited budget feature films
2019
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Supported by Creative Europe – MEDIA Programme of the European Union, LIM | Less is More is led by Le Groupe Ouest (France), developed with Control N (Romania), Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds – VAF (Belgium), Krakow Festival Office – KBF (Poland), and the Transilvania International Film Festival – TIFF (Romania), in partnership with the Lithuanian Film Centre – LFC, the Norwegian Film Institute – NFI, as well as North Macedonia Film Agency.
LIM is supported by Creative Europe –MEDIA Programme of the European Union
LE GROUPE OUEST | European Film Lab was founded on the coast of western Brittany (France) in 2006. In thirteen years, over 700 filmmakers have received residential coaching, making Le Groupe Ouest leader in Europe in this field. In 2016, after founding the Cross Channel Film Lab and on the back of ten years experience hand in hand with TorinoFilmLab, Le Groupe Ouest launched LIM | Less is More. Le Groupe Ouest is LIM’s managing partner and coordinator.
www.legroupeouest.com
Founded in 2009 by two screenwriters and a director, CONTROL N is a cultural association, whose projects center around training workshops, film courses and seminaries, dedicated to both amateurs and film professionals. Although its projects touch different areas of culture (theatre, dance, photography, media exhibitions), Control N’s main focus is screenwriting, script development and film related events. Its declared purpose is to discover and promote young talented film enthusiasts and to push for cinema education in Romania.
www.controln.ro
The Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF) is the cultural public funding body of Belgium’s Flemish Community. VAF aims to stimulate and support the independent audiovisual creation in Flanders through an integrated approach.VAF also offers the Flemish professional sector the necessary framework along with a wide range of accompanying activities and support measures in the area of Talent Development, Research, Film Activities and Sustainability – the latter known as ’e-Mission’.
www.vaf.be
Krakow Festival Office (KBF) is one of the most active institutions in Polish cultural life, responsible for Krakow’s biggest festivals and spectacular events heralded in Poland and across Europe in the fields of music, theatre, film, fine arts and literature since 2000. Via the activities of Krakow Film Commission and Krakow Regional Film Fund, KBF supports the development of the audiovisual industry in the Malopolska Region (film funding, production support, professional training and industry events).
www.biurofestiwalowe.pl
Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF) is the biggest international feature film festival in Romania and has grown rapidly to become one of the most spectacular annual events in the region. The main goal is the promotion of cinematic art by presenting some of the most innovative and spectacular films of the moment that feature both originality and independence of expression, that reflect unusual cinematic language forms or focus on current trends in youth culture.
www.tiff.ro
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The Lithuanian Film Centre (LFC) contributes to the designing of the effective film sector policy and to foster the sustainability of the Lithuanian film industry. Aiming to encourage the development of the Lithuanian film sector, LFC provides funding for film development, production, distribution and promotion.LFC supports the promotion of Lithuanian film at various film festivals, as well as supporting and sponsoring film education initiatives. The Centre is also responsible for preservation and dissemination of the Lithuanian film heritage.
www.lkc.lt
The Norwegian Film Institute (NFI) is the Norwegian government’s administrative body for the film sector and advises on film policy issues. 85% of the NFI’s budget (EUR 76 million in 2019) is earmarked for audiovisual development, production and distribution. The Institute also offers personal grants for training and talent development for the film industry. The NFI represents and promotes Norwegian films, games and drama series at festivals and film cultural events nationally and abroad.
www.nfi.no
The North Macedonia Film Agency goals are to provide annual financial support for national film production, international co-productions and national film festivals. It aims to provide continuous support for script development, support for young film professionals participating in international film workshops and training programs and to organise international events providing opportunities for networking of national film professionals. It also aims to promote national cinematography at renowned international film festivals and events.
http://filmfund.gov.mk
Brittany stands out for its wealth of production in cinema and the audiovisual arts. The region supports a wide variety of creative works while ensuring that related sectors remain considerably strong and well structured. Cinema and the audiovisual arts actively help paint the image of a region that is creative, attractive, dynamic and open. The FACCA fund for supporting creative works in cinema is Brittany’s main source of financial assistance in cultural production, widely helping develop and structure a community of entrepreneurs and jobs in this sector.
www.bretagne.bzh
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LIM | Less is More has been set up to empower a generation of filmmakers intent on opening new avenues and finding new audiences by tackling new issues. Our motto is Igor Stravinsky’s “The more art is bound by limitations, the freer it is”.
We live in an age of over-consumption and deep ecological concern. Humanism is in trouble and society is struggling to create meaning. Stories lie at the heart of what makes us human. Cinema is one of today’s powerful storytelling tools directly connected to our dreams and nightmares. It restores our ability to create meaning for present and future generations.
LIM uses limitations as a creative tool. Its spirit and ambition far exceed the facile business of restricting budgets. Self-imposed limitations help dig deep into character and emotion. They are a catalyst for boundary-breaking film experiences.
Artful limitation strategies help bring out a filmmaker’s unique vision, giving his or her work a strong advantage in an overcrowded market. Obviously also, introducing limitations early in the writing processes increases a film’s chances of being made rapidly.The screenwriter’s job is to streamline apparent complexity. A well-understood limitation strategy triggers strong artistic choices which can help make the engineering of an individual’s imagination meaningful to all.
by Antoine Le Bos — Artistic Directorand Anna Ciennik — Project Manager Massimiliano Nardulli — Talent Manager
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14 — 15 projects
16 — 17 Exiled Paradise Raed Andoni
18 — 19 Psychedelicatessen Harry Ayiotis
20 — 21 Accidents Michał Bielawski
22 — 23 The Mind Patrol Tudor Botezatu
24 — 25 Blue Banks Andreea Borțun
26 — 27 The Vision Brian Deane & Bob Kelly
28 — 29 Collateral Effects Wessam Hachicho
30 — 31 God Sister Nelicia Low
32 — 33 Birdie Jasna Nanut
34 — 35 When they all vanish Mark Noonan
36 — 37 Mami Wata C.J. Obasi
38 — 39 In the Belly of a Tiger Jatla Siddartha
40 — 41 Tremble Tracy Spottiswoode
42 — 43 Swap Gjorce Stravreski
44 — 45 Clean Koen Van Sande & Temina Kiasinian
46— 47 Silver Island Zara Zerny & Tommy Oksen
48 — 49 development angels
50 Patricia Drati
51 Marina Gumzi
52 Aleksandra Kostina
53 Karla Lulić
54 Patrice Nezan
55 Héloïse Noé
56 Michał Oleszczyk
57 Alki Politi
58 Céline Pourveur
59 Susana Santos Rodrigues
60 Joanna Solecka
61 Elena Stanisheva
62 — 63 tutors
64 Pierre Hodgson
65 Răzvan Rădulescu
66 Yann Apperry
67 Claire Barré
68 Séverine Cornamusaz
69 Matthieu Taponier
70 Antoine Le Bos
71 LIM’s team & partners
72 — 73 events
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1 6 — 1 7SynopsisDuring the filming of a historical movie on the life of Christ, the main actor André is injured. While the producers search for an alternative actor for the role of Christ, André and a local marginal actor called Ziad, experience an event in a real situation resembling one of the legends. They are its real heroes.
Director’s notesEXILED FROM PARADISE recalls the legend of Christ and its connection to our collective memory of the values of love, giving, sacrifice and non-violent struggle. Yet it is situated in a contemporary narrative dealing with competition and domination. This analogy reveals questions about our deep desires and the options available for mankind today. Raed Andoni, a Palestinian
filmmaker, began his career in 1997 as a producer. He produced a number of films acclaimed in international festivals and markets. In 2006 he directed his first 60 minute documentary IMPROVISATION which was screened in various international festivals and TV channels. His feature FIX-ME premiered in the official competition at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010, was in the ACID selection at Cannes festival 2011 and many others festivals and was released in theaters in France and Switzerland. Andoni’s latest film GHOST HUNTING premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival 2017 and won the Glashütte Original Documentary Award and the people’s choice award. Ghost Hunting took part in over 150 festivals and won 20 prizes before it became Palestine’s Official ticket to the OSCARS in 2019.
1 8 — 1 9SynopsisThis is a story of grief, memory and atonement. It takes place during one night in the last divided capital in the world, Nicosia, Cyprus. Mario, a charming drug dealer, is losing his grip on reality. A deeply buried trauma of which he has no recollection, is causing him frequent disassociated blackouts. Following his therapist’s advice, Mario undergoes an experimental drug treatment intended for grief relief. During the session, a technical glitch sends Mario into a spiral of psychedelic psychosis. Hallucinating, he sees a young girl claiming to be his dead daughter.During this nocturnal odyssey, Mario is determined to keep the trip going for fear of losing his child again. The only one who can help him is his estranged sister, Salome, who runs an underground grief relief centre, fuelled by the black-market version of the drug. Salome tries to guide Mario out of his trip, terrified of what might happen if he recalls a memory so painful it could tear him apart.
Director’s notesPSYCHEDELICATESSEN is an unrelenting psychedelic pop thriller which explores grief, and the price to pay for remembrance.In Cyprus, my home country, grief is like a widely accepted currency. Even though my generation is far removed from the troubling events of our history, we still feel their unbearable weight passed on by older generations. It makes me reflect: how can we make amends for something we haven’t experienced, something we don’t recall? It makes me reflect on grief in a new light and makes me reconsider the process of dealing with this troubling emotion.What if there was a drug that could shorten the grieving process? Or if you’re particularly masochist, prolong it indefinitely. What if you could forget your loved one immediately after the funeral? And what if you could continue seeing them long after they’ve left this world? What if all of this can be achieved with a single pill? For those who like to play God, psychedelic drugs are the ultimate toys. And who loves playing God more than film directors?
Former lawyer turned self-taught filmmaker from Cyprus, Harry Ayiotis has written and directed three short films prior to television development and series storytelling. In 2017 his project THE MIDNIGHT SHIFT was accepted at the Midpoint TV Launch program for which he co-developed the bible and co-wrote the pilot script. The project won the HBO Award for Best Series at the Sarajevo Film Festival in 2017.In 2018 Harry graduated from Serial Eyes post-graduate program for series storytelling section of the Deutsche Film und Fernsehakademie based in Berlin where he developed an anticipation modern western series.He is currently in development with two original German-based series as creator and co-creator with Munich based producer H&V Entertainment. One of the two projects was selected for the Torino Series Lab 2019 where it was pitched at Series Mania.
Psyche-delicatessen
2 0 — 2 1SynopsisACCIDENTS is set in western, provincial Poland. Almost 40-year-old Tomek is a fitness instructor, a divorced husband, father of a teenage girl and a loser. His ex-wife uses him for sex, people around him like him the most when he buys them drinks, even his daughter uses him as an alibi to meet her boyfriend. But Tomek is restless. He feels that he might have more affinity with the local criminals who show up in the neighbourhood bar. Tomek persuades them to employ him in their car-crashing business, namely an insurance scam they pull. The money is big. For Tomek, it is a promise of something better. Unexpectedly, his daughter knocks on his door, wanting to move in. She needs a place to meet her boyfriend. Tomek agrees. Confusion grows when the local criminals pay him a visit him to ask a favour. They need Tomek to steal a car in Berlin and drive it back to Poland. He agrees. But on his way back in the stolen car, he discovers that something’s gone wrong. The car isn’t going to stop.
Director’s notesTomek is a man with the Peter Pan syndrome who navigates by his needs, not necessarily conscious of their roots. He seeks to be accepted by those who reject him. So he adopts alpha male attitudes, thinking it will help him gain respect. By stifling his individual voice, Tomek shuts out his emotions. Through Tomek, the story questions masculinity. Has it come to a dead-end? Do the tools of a heroic, living-on-the-edge man apply in everyday life at moments when empathy or understanding is needed? From the first car crash to the last, facing difficulties in his relationships, Tomek looses self-confidence and, finally starts to question his ability to deal with life. This self-centred man, who constantly avoids responsibility, will find himself trapped in a car. From that moment, he will be forced to re-establish himself and his relationships. Will he be able to?
Michał Bielawski was born in Warsaw in 1974. He graduated from the Humanities Department at the University of Warsaw. For ten years, he worked as a journalist for radio and television. In 2013, he received the Polish Film Institute Award for the TV program ONE SCENE. In the same year, he debuted with the feature documentary MUNDIAL. THE HIGHEST STAKES, in which he mixes the perspective of political prisoners of the communist regime with the story of the 1982 World Cup held in Spain. His interest in history and sports are shown in “1989”, a documentary about the political transformation in Poland, and THE TEAM, a documentary about the Polish national volleyball team. His most recent film, THE WIND, A DOCUMENTARY THRILLER, co-produced by HBO, is a journey into the community of Polish highlanders who are affected by an extremely destructive wind.
2 2 — 2 3SynopsisA slick taxi driver and a corrupt politician are forced to face their own moral issues in a desperate attempt to become better people. All because of a terrible Romanian Doomsday, in which 50.000 evil people from all around the country are to die without any explanation every 6 hours.
Director’s notesThe project illustrates the fundamental myth of Romania according to which the country has been reduced to nothingness because of the selfishness, the disinterest and the greed of the ruling class. In other words, there are a few people here in Romania who could change things for the better but fail to do so because they are either ex-communist politicians or incompetent, corrupt and totally self-centred. Or simply because they don’t aspire to change. These people are the politicians, the ruling party acolytes, the powerful institution representatives, mobsters, interlopers and priests. In Romania, most are convinced they themselves are good people and that the others are simply evil. The general perception is that if these people didn’t exist, things would take a sudden turn for the better. The film intends to dismiss this myth, to show that even if these corrupt individuals disappeared, our problems would not just vanish into thin air.
Tudor Botezatu entered the film industry ten years ago and, while still a student, he worked as a location scouter, set production assistant, script supervisor, 2nd and 1st assistant director. He did it all. These diverse experiences shaped the director he is now: perceptive, straight-forward, sharp, hard-working, a good communicator and a great problem solver. Due to his charisma and his leadership skills, he never let unpredictable incidents ruin a day’s shoot. As a director, Tudor is mostly interested in the human fervour and tends towards a humorous and sarcastic approach. He has written and directed several short films, commercials and music videos and participated in various both national and international film festivals. He has never let this success go to his head: he remains the same relaxed young man from Jassy.
2 4 — 2 5SynopsisLAVINIA is a 28 year old woman living with her son, DANI, and her partner, MARIAN, in an impoverished village on the banks of the Danube. Even though they’re not married and MARIAN is not her son’s biological father, he has grown attached to the boy, becoming a stronger parental figure than his mother. When MARIAN dies of a sudden heart attack LAVINIA is left alone, with no apparent future. Avoiding confrontation with an emotionally demanding son, she immerses herself in work. EMIL, a 21 year old electrician takes her to Marseille for the summer to work there. LAVINIA feels entitled to live this teenage romance she missed out on because of having to raise DANI. Marseille, more than EMIL, is like a breath of fresh air to LAVINIA. It’s time off from DANI. But her freedom, Marseille, all prove to be mere illusions. Her son forces her to return home, back to where she started, where she bitterly fronts up to her only possible life.
Director’s notesThe general feeling governing Lavinia’s life is one of profound dissatisfaction. The relationship between what she thinks she deserves and what she actually does in order to deserve that, is of importance to me. I feel a sense of absurdity in our lives created by this tension between our capacities and our projections of (cheated) expectations. The life Lavinia expects and feels entitled to, doesn’t take into account her position in the world and the conditionings of that world. She’s in an in-between place where ambitions are high and unrealistic. She is surrounded by elements which create false images of what she could have: media, migration, community values. Lavinia lives in a world in which she feels she is constantly wronged, robbed of her rights, of what she should be entitled to. For her, happiness, the feeling of accomplishment, of justice are always somewhere else. Where she lives is never right or enough.
Andreea Borțun is a Romanian writer/director. A film graduate of UNATC Bucharest, she has studied philosophy at BARD College Berlin and Bucharest University. Andreea’s directorial debut, the short film BLUE SPRING, was selected in 2015 for the official competition of the 40th Toronto International Film Festival and her second short, LOVE LOCKER, won the Berlinale Talents & Canon Short Prize Award as well as the France 3 Award (Paris Courts Devant). She is the co-founder of Pustnik, an international screenwriting residency which takes place every year in Romania. She had her debut in theatre with a show directed by Neil LaBute and her first full-length play was part of Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2015. She has recently received development funding for her first feature, BLUE BANKS and production funding for her latest short.
Brian Deane — Ireland | [email protected]
Bob Kelly — Ireland | [email protected] M + 353 (89) 433 5205
The Vision
2 6 — 2 7SynopsisTHE VISION is the story of Michael, a struggling lone parent trying to raise his kids in rural Ireland. His son Sean, sees a vision of a beautiful ethereal lady beckoning him to come with her to an ancient dolmen near the family’s house. Michael fears his son may be mentally unwell after his wife Sarah suffered a psychotic break 6 years ago, who has remained in a local mental hospital. Michael’s mother in law, Nancy helps as best she can but Michael struggles to deal with his daughter’s anger and son’s withdrawal. After the vision Sean becomes fixated with nature and returning to the hill but Michael fearing for his son, refuses to allow him to go there, forcing him to stay grounded in the real world. The cold war between father and son continues until strange things start to happen in the house, as whatever is on the hill tries to actively reach Sean. The family, including Sarah and Nancy are forced together during a wild and unnatural storm where they must face whatever is on the hill as well as the skeletons in their own family closet.
Director’s notesTHE VISION is about a clash of worlds as well as forces. Sean, his mother and the forces from the hill are all connected through a sense of wonder and natural beauty. We will capture the beauty of nature using a very small depth of field, combined with deep space cues, highlighting the beauty in the smallest details, whether it’s an insect crawling along a leaf or small grubby hands tracing the bark of an ancient tree, this will be juxtaposed with Michael’s world where structure, balance and safety are encapsulated using the flat walls of the house interiors and exteriors creating a feeling of claustrophobia and imprisonment. As the two worlds collide the film will start to combine visual elements from both worlds as Michael learns to tear down his own walls to heal his family and as the forces of nature again find equilibrium. The film’s overall look will be handheld with a cinema Verité style and longer takes used to help ground the more fantastical elements in reality.
Brian Deane has 35 nominations and 27 International awards from the world’s top festivals for his drama work including Seattle, Newport, Cleveland, Palm Springs and TIFF. He is a Berlinale Talent alumni and made history in 2016 by being the 1st director to have two short films in competition at the world famous Sitges Fantastic Film Festival. He is passionately compelled to bring the stories of outsiders, misfits and those from the margins of society to the big screen.
Bob Kelly is a Lecoq-trained actor who has performed extensively internationally. He is an established theatre-maker, having performed in a wide range of projects for some of the biggest theatre companies in Ireland. He is currently touring with TINTOWN, an original work written for Blue Raincoat Theatre company, and working on a musical adaptation for Landmark Productions and the Galway International Arts Festival.
2 8 — 2 9SynopsisSALEEM (17) has had to flee Syria to Norway with his father RAFEEQ (47). They are waiting for separate asylum interviews. Rafeeq seems stressed. In Saleem’s interview, we learn that he never knew his father. Saleem’s mother was the prime caregiver who died during the war.They are located to a transit area. They fail to communicate. Saleem’s curiosity about the past makes Rafeeq aggressive. Saleem starts resenting his father. One day, Saleem gets a black eye during a fight, and this way sees from his father’s authority! He lies to the child-service to get himself moved to another camp. Rafeeq receives his first rejection for asylum papers.By mistake, Saleem gets a copy of the police interview with his father and learns the truth about Rafeeq’s past: a political prisoner he had been arrested and tortured. After his release, he had stayed away from his family to protect them. Ashamed, Saleem reaches out to his father to find him a legal way to stay in Norway. Will Saleem and Rafeeq be reunited as father and son?
Director’s notesAs a refugee myself, it’s necessary for me to clarify that seeing us only as “refugee figure" creates a barrier between us and accepting the new country as our home. We need to be seen as individual entities with individual stories, dreams, and capabilities in order to stop clinging on the past, to feel at home and start a new life.This film is an attempt to break the anonymity of a refugee. By telling this father and son story I want to show who they are, how they got to this point in life? And most importantly why? I want the audience to see behind the “refugee figure" to relate to them on a personal level. To give them the opportunity to experience and understand freedom, to find an identity. Maybe understanding that others can help to make this world a more compassionate place. Everyone should have access to humaneness and be given equally all the basics to achieve this. I believe that how we apply authority has a direct effect on an individual’s identity in all societies.
Wessam Hachicho was born in Deir Ezzor, Syria in 1983. A writer-director, she completed her bachelor degree in Film & TV, from Westerdals Oslo ACT in 2017. She is currently based in Oslo, Norway. As a photographer, Wessam worked on various short films and documentaries with various directors which has helped develop her visual storytelling style. For her, writing is part passion, part therapy and she has been doing it consistently since arriving in Norway. Being in a new country was a bit of a culture clash, especially having to almost start from scratch. This put her in a constant state of comparison between her old and new home. Trying to find peace and balance, she took on writing in an attempt to understand what happened to her homeland, people, and self.
3 0 — 3 1Synopsis18-year-old HUI, a wannabe Instagram model, is stuck taking care of her older autistic brother XIANG on Matsu Island in Taiwan, as her mother has run away and her father only cares about his business. At her amateur play where none of her followers show up, her MOTHER suspiciously appears. Her Mother has started her own cult, praying to the water goddess Matsu, but is in deep trouble because she had claimed that the Goddess was going to appear the week before. She proposes that Hui act as the Goddess for an hour in exchange for taking care of Xiang. Hui readily agrees.They manage to fool the cult followers, but when Hui sees how much they love her, she decides to move into the cult compound with Xiang, usurping Mother’s position as the leader. Mother furiously launches a war against Hui, making Hui fat. Hui forces Mother to shave her head. Meanwhile, Xiang is happy to have the protection of the Goddess Matsu, as he is afraid of water and is learning how to swim.Father arrives and steps in to stop the madness. But he only makes matters worse. When her parents team up, things turn fatal. Hui must decide if she will adopt her parents’ evil ways…
Director’s notesMy older brother is autistic, and the irony is that in my family, my parents and I are all more insane than he is. I see the humour in our situation, and would like to explore my dysfunctional family through dark comedy. I thought it would be funny if the cult was a metaphor for the love that both the daughter and mother are seeking, which is ridiculous for they are already a family by blood. I’ve always felt that my autistic brother was the only “sane” person in my family, and that the rest of us were horrible. But upon writing this script, I realized – Perhaps IF there is any good in me at all, it is BECAUSE of my autistic brother. This film is a journey of a character who thinks that her autistic brother is only a burden at first then comes to realize that she actually needs her brother because he brings out the good in her, despite the madness of her parents, the same madness she has inherited. We know that our mentally disabled loved ones need us, but do we realize that we need them even more?
Nelicia Low grew up in multilingual Singapore, where she was born with a thirst for stories. She represented Singapore as a National Fencer and retired after the 2010 Asian Games to focus on filmmaking. She received her MFA in Film Directing at Columbia University in New York. Her short film FREEZE premiered at the 38th Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, and went on to screen at the 53rd Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, 33rd Busan International Short Film Festival, as well as over 70 international film festivals around the world. She is currently working on her first feature, GOD SISTER, a dark comedy set on Matsu island in Taiwan. Having grown up with an autistic brother in a complicated family, Nelicia’s films explore the paradox of mentally-able people actually being more disturbed than their mentally disabled counterparts, as well as love and perversity in the context of family.
3 2 — 3 3SynopsisYoung Buga comes to a small European town with high expectations: she can finally begin her independent life. She starts working in a big pharmaceutical company, doing research on an antidepressants. She hadn’t realized that the job would require brutal killings of lab animals, and that her boss, Johann, would be such a pain in the ass. Buga feels trapped, she becomes depressed and finds solace in fooling around with her colleagues. She starts turning up late for work. Johann is amazed by her lack of respect towards this opportunity the company has given her, so he starts to watch her closely, to teach her discipline. While breathing down her neck, he becomes attracted to her and starts questioning his own seemingly perfect life. Is it possible that he who has it all – a nice house, a respectful career, a loving family – has actually been asleep all these years, and that she, an immature Balkan girl, has finally woken him up? And now that he is awake, what is he supposed to do with his 50th birthday approaching fast?
Director’s notesYouth is wasted on the young. In our mid 20s, we have to figure out our lives, find out who we are and what we want. Young Buga hasn’t a clue about these issues. It annoys her even more that her boss Johann has no such worries. He seems perfectly satisfied. So she puts him to the tests, just for the fun of it. She comes to work hung over, she’s late with the results… And she triggers off something in him. He starts feeling restless. Soon, he’s burning inside. And then, just like Buga, Johann becomes disoriented. His identity, his roles and values are substantially questioned, proven ineffective. What excites me about this story is the absurdity of the main character’s position. It’s fatal, larger than life from the inside, and completely ridiculous from the outside. Johann is a very serious Western European, and Buga is a spoiled Balkan girl with no respect. Would he jeopardizes his reputation for her? Crosses the line for the first time in his life? And if so, what might he find on the other side? Middle age can also be wasted - on the middle aged.
After fifteen years of working in TV, Jasna decided to move on and become a filmmaker. While studying at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb, she wrote and directed four shorts which participated in Zagreb Film Festival, Premiers Plans d’Angers, Poitiers Film Festival and many others. She obtained an MA in Film Directing in 2016. She won two Croatian Film Critics Awards for Best Short, first with her graduate film PLAYING THE TIGER, and the other with her first professional short TANYA a year later. She started developing her first feature film SEVENTH HEAVEN three years ago. In the meantime, she started writing her second script BIRDIE. She’s currently in post-production of her newest short THREE SECONDS, an omnibus she’s doing with two co-directors.
3 4 — 3 5SynopsisFleeing an unhappy relationship, Daria (40) takes refuge on a remote island where her peaceful existence is shattered by the unexpected arrival of younger sister Esmé (36) and daughter Hannah (11). Headstrong and rebellious, Daria is the total opposite of her civil servant sister, but is concerned for her sister’s mental health when a frantic Esmé claims the world is coming to an end. The next day Esmé has disappeared, leaving her daughter in Daria’s care. Daria finds her already strained relationship with men challenged, as the male islanders claim to see a sickness in women -- the women are gradually disappearing in front of their eyes. Amidst rumours from the mainland about the dangers of these vanishing women, a dangerous and uncertain energy spreads through the island resulting in a bizarre men’s uprising, and forcing Daria and Hannah to act quickly to discover if the vanishing is a legitimate extinction event or just another Salem witch hunt.
Director’s notesWHEN THEY ALL VANISH is an exploration of how we see one another through the gendered lens and questions if men are broken beyond repair in the modern world. I have always been interested in the sadness of men and where it comes from. Regardless of gender, children are born wild and untamed. These feral creatures are capable of boundless kindness and empathy. And yet some turn into savages, most of them men. Boys and men need help. The way we are preparing boys to go into the world as men is not working and I think we need to admit this. Boys go into the world on the coattails of an almost endless chain of unexamined privilege. But perhaps patriarchy is a bondage for boys too? Even if they don’t realise it, surely it disfigures them also? And doesn’t this disfigurement diminish the ultimate prospects of humans everywhere?
Mark is an Irish director with a bachelor’s degree in Architecture from University College Dublin and an MA in Film from Dublin City University. An alumnus of the Berlinale Talent Campus and the TIFF Film Lab in Toronto, his debut feature film YOU’RE UGLY TOO (2015) premiered in the Official Selection of the 65th Berlinale and was nominated for both Crystal Bear and Best Debut Feature awards. The film was also nominated at the 28th European Film Academy awards and screened at over a hundred film festivals worldwide, winning the Directors Guild of America Finder’s Series in LA, Best Debut Feature in Galway, Best Breakthrough Feature in Boston, and Best Screenplay Awards in Tokyo and Athens. His debut feature documentary KEVIN ROCHE: THE QUIET ARCHITECT (2017) was released to critical acclaim in Irish, UK, German and US cinemas last year.
3 6 — 3 7SynopsisWhen Mama Efe, the intermediary between the Mermaid Goddess called Mami Wata and the people of Lyi, a small fishing village in West Africa, is murdered by a deceitful mercenary called Jasper, the village is thrown into chaos. Zinwe, Mama Efe’s rebellious daughter, along with Prisca, Mama Efe’s protégé, must put aside their differences in order to defeat Jasper and restore dignity and glory to the village. The two women discover friendship and solidarity as they form a unified bond to vanquish their common enemy. Prisca believes her purpose lies in helping Zinwe to achieve this, given that Zinwe is the daughter of the late Mama Efe and the expected Chosen One. But in fact it is Prisca, the true successor to Mama Efe, and her destiny is much greater than she could have ever imagined.
Director’s notesMami Wata is a popular West African folk tale. When the figure of Mami Wata struck me, I saw a sublime image of the goddess on the ocean shores, standing in all her glory and beauty as she calls for her long lost child. I saw this image in deeply contrasted monochrome, and knew exactly the story I wanted to tell! I wanted to tell the story of a beautiful village. I wanted to talk about a powerful Goddess, who gifted her daughter to the people. I wanted to talk about destiny and human strength. I want to make a kickass fantasy film about African spirituality grounded in universal themes, exploring genre through an ancient belief system, as well as subverting genre through that same belief system. African cinema has come a long way but we need to take it to the next level; in some ways, maybe create a new cinema. I believe we must do this through genre. And Mami Wata for me epitomizes this need to see a new kind of African cinema.
C.J. Obasi directed OJUJU & O-TOWN, which has screened in many festivals, including the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles, Shockproof Film Festival in Prague, New Voices in Black Film Festival in New York, Gothenburg Film Festival and Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal, cumulating acclaim from the likes of Screen Anarchy, IndieWire & The Hollywood Reporter. He has won many awards and nominations including Best Nigerian Film (OJUJU), the African Movie Academy Awards (African Oscars), and the Trailblazer Award at the Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCA). His short film HELLO, RAIN premiered in the International Competition of the Internationale Short Film Oberhausen, and in over 25 festivals like Fantasia Film Festival, where it received the Special Mention for the Jury prize, and the BFI London Film Festival where it was nominated for the Short Film Award. He is currently participating in LIM | Less is More development lab with his feature project MAMI WATA.
3 8 — 3 9SynopsisInspired by true events, at the far edges of India Shining, an elderly couple in a remote village in Northern India must decide who will be killed by a tiger to get government compensation for their family’s survival.
Director’s notesIn July 2017, the half-eaten body of a 55-year-old woman was found at the edges of a forest in Bankati village, one of the impoverished villages surrounding the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve in northern India.While examining her body, village officials noticed the first signs of a disturbing new farmer suicide trend. It was suspected that villagers had begun sending their elderly members into the tiger reserve as prey, to then relocate their bodies to the surrounding fields in order to obtain compensation from the Indian government. Villagers are not entitled to claim compensation if they die in the reserve, but if they are killed in a tiger attack outside the reserve, they can receive up to 10 lakhs in government compensation (less than 12,000 Euro).Over the past months, I have spent time in these villages. Inspired by the true stories of Pilibhit’s villagers, IN THE BELLY OF A TIGER is a fictional account of one family.I believe this is a story that cannot be forgotten, and their lives deserve to be shared on screen.
Born to director father and actress mother, Siddartha grew up with filmmaking. He is a cinematography graduate of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and was admitted to Asian Film Academy as part of cultural exchange program in Busan Film Festival. Siddhartha was also awarded Kodak Scholarship for his excellence in Cinematography at his film school. His first short film, THE ARTIST, premiered at Busan in 2012.His first feature, LOVE AND SHUKLA (2017) had its World Premiere at Busan and then in Tallinn. He wrote, directed, co produced, and co edited this film. The film continued to travel to more than 35 international film festivals, including receiving the NETPAC award and Signis award and many others. It has been sold to NETFLIX. His second feature IN THE BELLY OF A TIGER received Busan Script development Fund (ACF), participated in NFDC film lab and is part of LIM2019.
4 0 — 4 1SynopsisWales 1877. Desperate for money, ex-miner Jones and ageing widow Siencyn agree to rob a grave and ferry the corpse of murderer Henry Tremble 25 miles across the mountains at night. Capture means the death penalty. As the journey unfolds, so does the tale of the dead man. They ponder his motives; reflections on their own lives prompted by his deeds.A year ago, Tremble set out to murder his employer and family, before killing himself. His village tricked another into burying him. Bad luck ensued. Now that village is sending him back, paying Siencyn to perform a sin eating ritual to lift the curse and save his soul. But damning her own. Atheist Jones can’t see past his own misfortune. Consumed by grief and guilt after the death of his brother in a mine accident, he seeks a new life in Australia. Fearing police on their trail, they take a lonely mountain track, lose their way, then the coffin, when horse and cart are stolen. Can they find the body by dawn and with it, their own salvation?
Director’s notesBased on a true story TREMBLE employs the cinematic grammar of a neo western with a Celtic twist. Tremble’s vengeful killing spree takes place on a hot August day in long choreographed shots. In contrast, the coffin’s journey is at night, nothing’s clear, mist rolls in, the moon disappears. Characters are small against mountains and night sky. We feel their insignificance, the struggle to find meaning in life when surrounded by death and burdened by the past. TREMBLE will be mainly in Welsh language and draw on Celtic myths, its score composed on ancient Welsh instruments but with a contemporary feel. The settings show the inequality between rich and poor and the explosive consequences of the resentment it fuels. These issues are relevant today. Wales is one of the poorest nations in Europe, 25% of people living in poverty.That feeling of powerlessness, inability to direct one’s destiny is shared by Jones, Siencyn and Tremble. But they choose different paths to control their fate.
I’m a filmmaker from Wales, inspired by its history, myths, landscape and language. My career began as actor and designer: devised work led to writing and directing theatre, radio, TV and film, always with emphasis on the visual.Study in Prague introduced Czech New Wave and seeded many cold war projects e.g. a BBC Films commission, R4 play and my animated short CODENAME CORGI won awards worldwide including 2 x BAFTA Cymru and Gold at Chicago IFF. Survival against all odds is a favourite theme; films in development include WIRA set in the Warsaw Uprising.I was Development Exec and BFI Network Manager at Ffilm Cymru 2010-17, exec producing shorts and developing features e.g. UK Oscar entry I AM NOT A WITCH. 2018 saw a return to making my own work with a Creative Wales award, Ffilm Cymru support for TREMBLE and a BFI/BBCfunded short film.
4 2 — 4 3SynopsisOn his last day in prison, Bobby, a computer scientist turned kleptomaniac and alcoholic, learns of a weird method that can help if the things go wrong. An offbeat prison counsellor tells Bobby he should swap something he cares about. Then swap again. And after 10 swaps it will set him free from the urge to steal and drink.Prison authorities find Bobby a lousy job and an apartment. One night, depressed, he steals a bottle of bourbon from a supermarket. He’s about to open the bottle in a nearby park when a young woman shows up and he decides to test the swaps. They have a charming chat. Nina gives him a book and her phone number in exchange for the liquor.Bobby dates Nina and continues to swap. A whole world of weird characters opens up to him: a junky filmmaker, an amputated woman, a musician hooked on porn. Bobby exchanges not only things, but emotions as well. The weird method seems to work: he has a girl, a job, a bright new life.But on the last swap, he has to trade his newfound peace with the darkness of his past.
Director’s notesBobby has been living in hell for too long. Losing his daughter in a freak accident shattered his belief in rationale. Unable to work, this has revealed a dark side he wasn’t aware that he had.The film is my personal exploration of meaning and absurdity. I swapped math and sciences for arts in my twenties and since then I’ve been constantly in awe of how reason and chaos are part of our world in equal measure. We usually think that humans are smart and rational, but our emotions, instincts, impulses and the vast void in our brain where the thoughts are only the tiny surface, are equally as powerful.Yes, we manage to find meaning in a meaningless world. We build myths, societies, families and attach values to them which give us reason to live. But then, sometimes we lose them and our mind becomes powerless, ruminating over the loss, trying to find an answer where there is none. Until we build another myth, another life, another lie.
Gjorce Stavreski is a film director based in Skopje, Macedonia.Graduated from the department of film direction at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Skopje. An awarded film and video professional who has made films, documentaries and commercials, working as director, producer and screenwriter. His films have been screened in many festivals throughout the world where he has won international awards.His feature debut SECRET INGREDIENT received international acclaim: in just over a year it was selected at 56 film festivals winning 17 international awards. It was a Macedonian foreign language Oscar candidate and the first Macedonian film shown on HBO. Distributed theatrically in Italy, Spain and South Korea.Gjorce is a recipient of a prestigious national award for math and sciences and a diehard Sudoku fan.
Koen Van Sande — Belgium | [email protected] + 32 477344794
Temina Kiasinian — Belgium / Armenia | [email protected]
Clean
4 4 — 4 5SynopsisCLEAN is an intimate author film with a wide impact. Not another expensive action driven police film or drug story. This film is about the inner battle of the protagonist, about the human tragedy behind a family confronted with a drug addict family member. Where do you draw the line as a brother, sister, father or mother? And what line will you draw? There is fear and doubt, there is the almost compulsive urge to care. After all it is family. But at the same time there is aversion, disapproval. The hesitation that family members of drugs-users experience to talk about it openly, makes the damage even greater than it already is. By embedding these hypocrite, moral and ideologic issues in an average middle-classfamily and showing the deep human destruction that these cause, the audience is taken out of its comfort zone and forced to think about the inhumane and absurdity of choices that are made, based on tragic misunderstandings about drug addiction.
Director’s notesCLEAN is a tragedy about police inspector Kurt and his drug-addict brother, Wim. It is the duality between the incorruptible law official and the unruly junkie which drive the drama and the action. Will Kurt be able to get Wim of the drugs?The problems in the family stemmed from the early years when Wim was a free spirit with wild dreams while Kurt was a stable kid following in his conservative father’s footsteps.Years later these opposite personalities are still present in the two brothers. Everything is set up for a family tragedy which has been heading their way for a long time.CLEAN raises the question of how to deal with misfits in our society, with those who step out of line. The question confronts us with our own hypocrisy and how we subsequently judge and condemn and close our eyes in fear.The story is set in the dark underworld of Antwerp, drug capital of Europe, where the police are fighting the ’vermin’. But the criminal tension elements are not intended to outweigh the atmospheric character developments in CLEAN.
Clean
After successfully finishing his studies as a film director with the award-winning short WES, Koen wrote and directed fiction series such as ’16+’ and ’De Vijfhoek’. He made several shorts in preparation for the bigger work resulting in RESEARCH and CRACKS (both selected in International festivals). His latest short LOCKDOWN won best international film at the SIPFEST in Australia. He also got funded in 2016 to write, produce and direct a big budget fiction series (10 EP) for VTM.
After finishing her studies in photography and textile design at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp 2009 Temina started her career as a photographer, art director and producer in the fashion industry. She worked on large film sets with international directors and photographers such as Jean Claude Thibaut, Arthur De Kersauson and Mario Testino for clients as Vogue US, Louis Vuitton and Dior. In 2016 Temina started focussing on fiction. She wrote her first short film BLUE BIRD which she directed in May 2019.
Zara Zerny — Denmark / Canada | [email protected] + 45 61 46 26 82
Tommy Oksen — Denmark | [email protected] +45 29 84 96 58
Silver Island
4 6 — 4 7SynopsisSILVER ISLAND is an absurd fairy tale love story between Frank, a lonely old man with a boy’s autistic explorative mind, and Alice, a charming old woman with dementia living in a fantasy world of memories. Frank has lived his whole life on a farm with his controlling mother who is in incurable grief from losing Frank’s twin brother at the age of 10. When the farm burns down Frank is forced to temporarily move in to a nursing home where he is surrounded by the elderly, who have only their memories to think and talk about. One day Alice starts to mistake Frank for her dead husband, Ejnar. At first Frank rejects her, but his curiosity eventually leads him to enter Alice’s mind and he falls not only in love with her, but also with her memories of Ejnar. For the first time he feels the love and beauty of a relationship and he transforms into Ejnar, a persona he always has dreamt of being. But it all comes to an end when Alice no longer sees him as Ejnar, for he has transformed into another person with new memories.
Director’s notesI wish to tell a story about a first love in a nursing home told through the enchanting realm of memories. I want to explore how a place associated with death, sickness and termination can also be humane and life assuring. I want to explore the beauty of people connected to their memories in their last stages of life.The story is about a man entering first an estranged but very real place at a nursing home, and secondly about the poetic and surreal world of Alice’s mind. This experience enables him to leave the scared, shy and introverted boy he was behind him and begin a journey of transformation into a person he dreams of being. A person with memories of love. The cycle of memories is the drive that reveals the unpredictable, the sad and the beautiful feelings Frank should experience. The underlying, emerging theme guiding the film is the beauty of living in our memories.
Zara Zerny graduated from the independent film school, Super16, as a director. Her character driven style along with her long tableaux, forces the viewer to see the world she wants to depict. Of prime interest to Zara, this is what she wants to further develop. Zara also has a bachelor in Graphic Design from Gerrit Rietveld Academy. Her films have been screened at various festivals: Rotterdam FF, Nordisk Panorama, Slamdance FF, IndieCork FF (Best Short Film), Moscow IFF, Drama FF (special mention, Best Documentary)... She is in development with her 1st fiction feature and her 1st documentary feature, both with support from the Danish Film Institute (DFI).
Tommy Oksen was born and raised in a small town in Southern Jutland. He educated as a scriptwriter from the independent film school Super16 (Copenhagen). He has written several short films and written and directed three short films of his own. Tommy is now working on his 1st feature film with writer-director, Zara Zerny, which is selected for LIM2019 and supported by the DFI.
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We have chosen the term “Development angels” as an alternative to the more restricted notion of “Story editors” because we strongly believe that the art of development should be an across-the-board collaboration between script professionals, producers, sales agents, film-fund managers and everyone involved in the process. We believe everyone will benefit from evolving common tools and a common language together with writers and directors.
Patricia Drati — Denmark
D E V E L O P M E N T A N G E L S
Patricia Drati is a creative producer and film development consultant, working in both documentary and fiction.Between 2009-2015, Patricia was Head of CPH:LAB at CPH:DOX International Documentary Film Festival. She curated, developed and managed the cross-cultural training and production lab for international filmmaking talents.She holds the Danish Film Academy Award 2012 in Short Film category for the production of a short film by Jeppe Rønde, GIRL IN THE WATER. Since 2013, Patricia has also been working internationally as a script reader and script editor. Patricia completed TorinoFilmLab as a story editor in 2016, where she has since been a member of the reading committee. Patricia has been a consultant for various talent development schemes in Denmark, including Filmworkshops in Copenhagen and Odense.
2019 DON’T GIVE A FOXfeature documentaryWESTERN RAMPARTshort fiction
2017AMALfeature documentary (co-producer)
2014STRANDED IN CANTONfeature documentary
2013WALK WITH MEshort fictionLA ISLAshort fiction
2011RESISTENTEshort documentary
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Producer / [email protected]
Marina Gumzi — Slovenia
Studied dramaturgy, performance studies and film production in Ljubljana, Berlin, Ludwigsburg and Paris. Before switching to film, Marina wrote for theatre and worked as a freelance dramaturge. She learned from and worked alongside prominent stage artists such as Robert Wilson, Karmina Šilec and Tomi Janežič. In 2011, after completing post-graduate studies in film production at Atelier Ludwigsburg-Paris, she took over the position of head manager for audiovisual program within MARIBOR 2012 – European Capital of Culture. In the same year she became managing director of NOSOROGI, Ljubljana-based micro studio for production of films by up-and-coming authors. In 2015, she co-founded the Berlin-based film festival of new Slovenian cinema, Neues slowenisches Kino, and curated its first two editions. Curious about contemporary avant-garde visual practices, Marina is striving to produce and curate unconventional cinematographic narratives as well as create own contents for and about cinema. Lives in Ljubljana and Berlin.
2019 STORIES FROM THE CHESTNUT WOODSby Gregor Božičfiction debut
2017PLAYING MEN by Matjaž Ivanišin documentary
2014LITTLE HOUSES by Darko Sinkoand Matjaz Ivanišin documentary
In productionFIUME O MORTE! by Igor Bezinović documentary (co-producer)
In development THE JUNGLE BOOK PROJECT by Gregor Božič documentary
Aleksandra Kostina — Ukraine
D E V E L O P M E N T A N G E L S
Has been working in the film industry since 2007. At first as a line producer, producing TV films, documentaries, and TV shows. Since 2013 works as a freelance line and executive producer on numerous feature films, mostly international co-productions. Over the last few years Aleksandra has focused on the development of her projects, and projects where she was attached as a development producer for other companies. In 2018 she established her own production company BOSONFILM.Aleksandra was selected for the EWA mentoring programme 2019, she is alumni of MAIA Producers Workshop 2018, and participated in Cannes Producers Workshop 2017, EAVE on-demand sessions on strategic film marketing 2017, Producers Workshop New York Film Academy 2016, and Directors Across Borders 2013.Her current project as a producer is a debut feature film, PAMFIR, by the Ukrainian director Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, which was recently selected for the Cinéfondation Residence du Cannes Film Festival, and Sofia Meetings Co-production Market.
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Producer / Writer / DirectorDOBAR [email protected] [email protected]
Karla Lulić — Croatia
A Croatian producer, screenwriter and director, with an MA degree in Cinema and TV production at the Sorbonne University in Paris. She is a founder of Dobar Film (translation: “A Good Film”), a Croatian production company dedicated to make good films. In 2018, she released her debut short film, a Croatian comedy in co-production with France, called IN THE NAME OF THE STRAWBERRY, THE CHOCOLATE AND THE HOLY SPIRIT. It was screened in Los Angeles, as a world premiere at SEEfest, awarded in Rome at RIFF 2018. It had a national premiere as the first short film in history of Pula film festival and was screened at the opening ceremony in famous Roman Arena with more than 5000 spectators. The film is still in the festival circuit.Her second short film FOLLOWING…, a comedy with post-apocalyptic elements is now in post-production. She has two feature films in development with her Croatian production company Dobar Film and she collaborates with the Romanian production company Kinotopia where she works as a producer on a debut feature and a documentary.In 2018, Karla collaborated with the Mediterranean Film Institute MFI advanced workshop for projects in development as an Assistant trainer.
2018 IN THE NAME OFTHE STRAWBERRY, THE CHOCOLATEAND THE HOLY SPIRITby Karla Lulićshort film
In post-productionFOLLOWING... by Karla Lulićshort film
In preparationEMERGENCY EXIT by Bogdan Muresanudebut feature film
In developmentMIRROR OF NIGHTINGALES by Karla Lulićdebut feature film
ProducerLES CONTES MODERNESwww.lescontesmodernes.fr [email protected]
Patrice Nezan — France
D E V E L O P M E N T A N G E L S
Producer Patrice Nezan, aims to partake in intellectual debates within our contemporary societies by any necessary means (fiction, animation, creative documentary, VR and transmedia).Les Contes Modernes federates authors and artists from various horizons who question the world in all its complexity around us and who place the aesthetic search at the heart of their creations. Our artistic process advocating body movement rather than dialogues is an attempt to create a universal language, to cross borders.Les Contes Modernes is a production company based in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in the South of France, between Lyon and Marseille, in La Cartoucherie, a hub of excellence for the animation industry.Les Contes Modernes supports projects which develop a humanist, empathic and creative approach on the world of today and of tomorrow.
2019THE TOWER by Mats GrorudANOTHER DAY IN BAGHDAD by Maysoon PachachiCORPUS CHRISTI by Jan Komasa
2018LES BERGERS DU FUTUR by Lionel Roux
2016HOTEL MACHINE by Emmanuel Licha
2014COME IL VENTO by Marco Simon PuccioniSOUTH TO NORTH by Antoine Boutet
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ProducerCINEMA [email protected]
Héloïse Noé — France
Born in 1989, Héloïse Noé graduated in Film Production at the ESG Business School of Paris in 2014. She worked as production secretary for Diez Films on several international video clips for artists such as Sam Smith, and was a freelance journalist for Paris Premiere – covering the 67th Cannes Film Festival – among other cultural events.Keen to develop this international asset into feature film production, she joined Cinema Defacto as a production and post-production coordinator. For two years she was involved in several critically acclaimed arthouse features such as LOS PERROS by Marcela Said and THE LOAD by Ognjen Glavonic. She became Head of Development in 2018, working alongside first-time and experienced filmmakers attempting to explore the borders of cinematographic experimentation via an independent production system.
2018THE LOAD by Ognjen Glavonic 1st featureTHE HARVESTERS by Etienne Kallos 1st feature
2017LOS PERROS by Marcela Said 2nd featureDOPO LA GUERRA by Annarita Zambrano 1st featureMILLA by Valérie Massadian 2nd feature
2016APPRENTICE by Boo Junfeng 2nd feature
Script consultant & film [email protected]
Michał Oleszczyk — Poland
D E V E L O P M E N T A N G E L S
Michał Oleszczyk is a script consultant and film critic based in Warsaw. He works as an Assistant Professor at Artes Liberales Department of University of Warsaw. His writing on film has appeared in “Cineaste”, RogerEbert.com and on the Criterion Collection website. He has served several times as a screenplay evaluation expert at Polish Film Institute, and between 2013-2016worked as the Artistic Director of Poland’s largest festival of Polish films, Gdynia Film Festival. He is a guest script consultant for the Screenplay Atelier, one of the leading screenwriting workshops in Poland. He has been awarded the Polish Film Institute Award for Best Polish Critic, the Jan Machulski Honorary Award for continuous support of independent Polish Filmmaking, as well as Krzysztof Mętrak Award for Best Young Polish Critic.
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Writer & [email protected]
Akli Politi — Greece
Alki Politi is a writer and director based in Athens. She graduated from the department of Film Studies at the Fine Arts at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and did her Master’s in Screenwriting, Directing and Production at the University of Panthéon/Sorbonne Paris I. She has worked as assistant director for various productions and as script consultant in Greece and in France. As a filmmaker she has written and directed a few short films and is now developing her first fiction feature film. In 2018 she worked in collaboration with the Mediterranean Film Institute’s script workshop as an assistant trainer.
ProducerRHIZOM-ARTwww.rhizom-art.be [email protected]
Céline Pourveur — Belgium
D E V E L O P M E N T A N G E L S
Céline Pourveur is a producer based in Belgium. The first part of her career, she worked for seven years in the film and television industry, as a 2nd Assistant Director and from 2014 on, as Production Assistant for the Belgian production company Savage Film. In 2018, she founded the production and distribution platform company Rhizom-art.
Rhizom-art supports artists working at the crossroads of cinema, performance, theatre, dance and visual arts. Experimental films, video installations, hybrid audiovisual works are her main focus.
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Film curator, project analyst & [email protected]
Susana Santos Rodrigues — Portugal
Zimbabwe-born Portuguese film curator, project analyst, distributor and producer, living between Europe and Latin America.Latin American and Portuguese delegate to the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, in the Czech Republic, and to the Cinéma du Réel – International Documentary Film Festival, in France. Programming advisor to the Bildrausch FilmFest Basel, in Switzerland, and member of the selection committees of the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival in Brazil, and of the Hubert Bals Fund (HBF – from the Rotterdam International Film Festival), in the Netherlands. International consultant to the Doha Film Institute, in Qatar and external expert assessing projects for the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), European Union’s Creative Europe – Media sub-programme.In 2013, she co-founded the distribution and production outfit VAIVEM, active in Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, and Portugal, releasing in theatres, HORSE MONEY, by Pedro Costa; MUSEUM HOURS, by Jem Cohen; NO TODO ES VIGILIA, by Hermes Paralluelo; EL INCENDIO, by Juan Schnitman; and A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT, by Ana Lily Amirpour, among others.
Marketing & Social Media StrategistALPHAPANDA [email protected]
Joanna Solecka — Poland
D E V E L O P M E N T A N G E L S
Marketing strategist and TorinoFilmLab expert in the Audience Design field. Creative producer for shorts and documentaries. Lecturer at the international training workshops for fiction and documentary filmmakers.Her career began at Wajda Studio and Wajda School in Warsaw where she worked for more than 10 years as Head of PR, Festivals & Sales developing promotion and distribution strategies for shorts, features and documentaries. This included handling two Oscar campaigns for the nominated short documentaries RABBIT A LA BERLIN and JOANNA.Since 2015 Joanna has been working for Alphapanda, a European marketing agency for the film industry specialized in social media. Alphapanda’s expertise covers all areas of marketing and promotion, including strategy, social media campaigns, advertising, research and outreach. Alphapanda’s client list spans from Hollywood majors (20th Century Fox, Warner Bros) and European Film Awards to independent producers and distributors.
2018ANOTHER DAY OF LIFE feature filmTOUCH ME NOT feature film
2017OVER THE LIMIT documentaryTHE TRIAL.OLEG SENTSOVVS. RUSSIAN STATE documentary
ProducerVEDA FILM [email protected]
Elena Stanisheva — Macedonia
Elena Stanisheva is a film producer based in Skopje. After her graduation at the National University, with a major in French language, she participated in the certificate producers program at the NYFA in New York, became a talent at the Sarajevo Talents 2013 and the same year received a scholarship to study scriptwriting at FAMU, Prague. She started her career working with the acclaimed “Golden Lion” award-winning director Milcho Manchevski, gaining significant knowledge in the field of international co-productions. After establishing her company VEDA FILM, she co-produced her first short film To Guard a Mountain which won numerous international awards. In 2016, she participated the EPI European Co-production workshops in Berlin. Later in 2017 she participated in the Rotterdam Lab for producer, Cannes Producers Workshop, Mediterranean Film Institute in Greece and became alumni at MAIA Producers Workshops. From 2015, she is collaborating with the writer/director Andrej I. Volkashin on all his projects and developing his first feature films THE SWEET BITTERNES OF THE RIPE POMEGRANATES.
2019SNAKEby Andrej Volkashin short fictionGOD EXIST, HERNAME IS PETRUNIJA by Teona S. Mitevska feature film
2018FORM B16 by Ivan Ivanovski short animation
2017KOLIVOby Andrej I. Volkashin short fiction
2012TO GUARDA MOUNTAIN by Izer Aliu short fiction
2010 MOTHERSby Milcho Manchevski feature film
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tuto
rsLIM | Less is More is structured around three one-week workshops in residency – in March, June and October – in small villages in different parts of Europe. The development work of the sixteen film projects selected for the year 2019 is supervised by eight script-consultants — all of them being writers in activity. Each project benefits from the insight of four tutors. As for the Development angels, immersed in group work with the writers & filmmakers during a whole week, their involvement is followed by a dedicated tutor.
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T U T O R S
Pierre Hodgson was born in London in 1959. After Oxford, he came to Paris where he was coordinator on Olivier Assayas’ first film and 1st AD to Raul Ruiz on TREASURE ISLAND, shot in Portugal. The next years were split between a job as a TV producer in London and screenwriting for Joao Canijo in Lisbon. Two of these films went to Un Certain Regard.He continues to combine making documentaries with screenwriting, including Philippe Grandrieux’ SOMBRE, Randa Chahal’s INFIDELES and three features by Jerôme de Missolz. He has worked with Thomas Bidegain, Patricia Mazuy, Jean-Gabriel Periot and Marina de Van among others. He tutors at Le Groupe Ouest | European Film Lab since 2014.
Pierre Hodgson
6 4 — 6 5
Răzvan Rădulescu (born in Bucharest, in 1969) studied linguistics, French Literature and then Opera directing before starting to work in cinema. As a screenwriter (THE DEATH OF MR. LĂZĂRESCU; TUESDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS; CHILD’S POSE), script consultant (4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, 2 DAYS; THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF NICOLAE CEAUȘESCU) and director (FIRST OF ALL, FELICIA; EVROPA) he followed a basic principle: cinema on screen is about what we see and hear, while off screen it is about what we think and feel. Since 2005, he took occasional teaching jobs in Dramaturgy (ESAV Marrakesh, York University Toronto, Scuola Holden Torino and Academy of Arts Karlsruhe).
Răzvan Rădulescu
T U T O R S
Yann Apperry is a Franco-American writer born, the recipient of two of the national literary awards, the Prix Médicis for his novel DIABOLUS IN MUSICA and of Prix Goncourt des Lycéens, for FARRAGO.Apperry also writes for film: the features 24 MESURES (2007) and YVES SAINT LAURENT (2014), directed by Jalil Lespert. Most recently, the award-winning VR and 3D short ALTÉRATION, directed by Jérôme Blomet. He is currently developing two feature films. AMOROSTASIA, a neo-noir dystopian, for the production company Les Armateurs, and the animated WAR WITH THE NEWTS, based on Karel Čapek’s novel. Apperry also writes for the stage, both as a playright and librettist. Among his last works: LE DERNIER LIVRE DE LA JUNGLE, a musical contemporary take on Kipling’s Jungle Books, produced by France Culture, with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.
Yann Apperry
6 6 — 6 7
Claire Barré is a screenwriter and novelist.After training as an actress, she turned towards writing and studied two years as a screenwriter at C.E.E.A. Upon finishing the program, she wrote for several television series (TF1, France 2 and Arte).Her screenplay AN IDEAL WIFE received the Sopadin prize for Best Screenwriter, opening the world of cinema to her. She has since worked with numerous directors (Anne Fontaine, Fabienne Berthaud, Audrey Dana, Olivier Ayache-Vidal, Fred Garson.). The first film she has co-written, A BIGGER WORLD by Fabienne Berthaud, starring Cécile de France, will be released in 2019. A second one, POLICE, by Anne Fontaine, was shot at the beginning of the year.Claire has published five novels and has been a consultant and screenwriting professor in the University of Nanterre, in C.E.E.A., in Femis, in Brazil, and Colombia.
Claire Barré
T U T O R S
Born in 1975 in Lausanne, Switzerland. Graduated from the Vevey School of Photography and the New York Film Academy. CŒUR ANIMAL is her first fiction feature film (Swiss Film Prize 2010: Best film and Best actor). CYANURE, her second fiction feature film, a Swiss-Canadian co-production, was released in February 2013. She directed a historical documentary: 14-18 DES ENFANTS BELGES EN SUISSE (2018). She is currently preparing a comedy (CONQUISTADOR - shooting 2020).
From 1997 to 2005, she worked as an editor. Since 2003, she has been teaching cinema - screenwriting, directing, directing the actors, regularly in Switzerland and France.
Séverine Cornamusaz
6 8 — 6 9
Matthieu Taponier was born in 1982 in Paris, France. After studying Modern Literature, he completed an M.F.A. at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.Since 2009 he has been working as a screenwriter, script editor and film editor.He was a TorinoFilmLab Script&Pitch story editing trainee in 2012 and is a script consultant in many workshops (the Semaine de la critique « Next Step » lab, Cross Channel Film Lab, Le Groupe Ouest, Biennale College Cinema, Hezayah Screenwriting Lab, First Cut Lab, etc.). He worked as a script consultant and editor on Laszlo Nemes’ SON OF SAUL, Grand Prix at Cannes 2015, and as a co-writer and editor on SUNSET, Fipresci Prize at Venice 2018.
Matthieu Taponier
Antoine was coming from a previous life in sailing and philosophy when he graduated from C.E.E.A in Paris. He first directed short films and on-stage experiments, before signing or co-signing around 25 feature scripts for independent filmmakers. He won the Gan Foundation Price as a writer in 2005, created Le Groupe Ouest in Brittany in 2006, which has become N°1 place in Europe for the coaching of writers in residency. He’s been closely collaborating with TorinoFilmLab since 2007 and has been tutoring for NFDC Lab (India), TFL (Italy), Biennale College (Venice), Moulin d’Andé (France), Maïa Workshops, Doha Film Institute, and many others. With Le Groupe Ouest, he has created the Cross Channel Film Lab experience, and in 2015 launched LIM | Less is More, the European development programme for limited budget features. He is LIM Artistic Director, as well as the mentor of LIM’s "Development angels" all year long.
Antoine Le Bos
T U T O R S
7 0 — 7 1LIM’s team
TextLe Groupe Ouest
PhotographsRobert Słuszniak / KBF p.4; 6-9; 72; 74-75 & portraits p.19; 37; 39; 58Brigitte Bouillot / Le Groupe Ouest p.5; 66; 69; 73 Gabriel Brunet-Sanz p.9 Vlad Cupşa / TIFF p.72Iulia Rugină / Control N p.70; 73
Graphic designRodhamine
PrintingSun Graphic
© LIM 2019
Antoine Le BosArtistic [email protected]
Anna CiennikProject [email protected]
Massimilano NardulliTalent [email protected]
Charlotte Le VallégantHead of [email protected]
Maxime Poë[email protected]
Maina Le [email protected]
Ana AgopianMethodological [email protected]
Dany de Seille [email protected]
Le Groupe Ouest’s partners
Control N’s partners
eventsworkshop 1
KrakowregionLIM starts out on its 2019 journey in Przegorzały – a suburb of Krakow. For a whole week, the team and participants set up camp at the Hotel Wolski, located in Lasek Wolski Forest. In the forest are many scenic walks – in Sowiniec Hill with the Piłsudski Mound, the baroque Camaldolese Monastery atop Srebrna Góra (the Silver Mountain), the zoological garden, three rocky nature reserves… – so participants will be able to enjoy strolls. The purpose of this first workshop is clear for the filmmakers:to find the core of each project, both thematically and narratively. It will be a search for the power driving each story as well as revealing the subconscious interrogation lying at its heart.
Przegorzały, Krakow region, PolandMarch 5 – 10, 2019
During an important European film event, the core of all the 16 LIM projects still in an early development stage, will be presented to an audience, confronting the authors with film professionals. Among these professionals are producers, distributors, sales agents, broadcasters. An essential tool for this public presentation is a very personal video giving the essence of each project, recorded by the filmmaker him or herself. The aim of this encounter is to also create an international networkof film professionals, all united around LIM’s objectives: the useof limitations as a launching pad for a new momentum in independent cinema…
Cluj-Napoca, RomaniaJune 7 – 8, 2019
Tiff event
Transilvania International Film Festival
7 2 — 7 3
workshop 3
BrittanyFor a whole week, the team and participants set up camp in a small village on Brittany’s rocky northern coast - the home of Le Groupe Ouest - in what used to be a farm in the heart of the countryside, a few hundred meters from the ocean. Here, with a broader coalition of combined groups and consultants, the projects enter the final stage of development. The purpose is to finalise a strong treatment or a first draft if possible. This is about raising the right questions and finding the right answers, finding doors and windows, connecting the need for limitations to enhancea powerful story.
Plouneour-Brignogan, BrittanyOctober 11 – 16, 2019
workshop 2
TransylvaniaDeep in the mountains, 20 kilometers from the nearest village, LIM’s team and participants enter phase 2 of their work: the deep digging. Combining feedback from professionals and following the path of the first rewrites in between the first two workshops, the goal is to establish a bone structure for the script while integrating the creative trigger of budget limitations. Long walks in the Transylvanian forests with combined consultants and groups, help find the way…
Băișorii Mountain Resort, RomaniaJune 9 – 13, 2019
Organised with the support of
7 4 — 7 5
The enemy of art is the absence of limitationsORSON WELLES
www.lim-lessismore.eu