PROJECT PRESENTATIONSSØRFOND PITCHING FORUM
OCTOBER 12T
THH
2016
SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUNDSØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND 32
WELCOME
PROJECT MANAGERPer Eirik Gilsvik
DESIGNSaatchi & Saatchi by Eiliv Gunleiksrud
VOLUNTEERSMads Halvorsen, Margrete Kåset og Nina Hindahl
FILMS FROM THE SOUTH BOARD MEMBERSTruls Kotny, Lamisi Gurah Blackman, Kari Marstein, Synnøve Hørs-
dal, Erik Giercksky and Tom Eilertsen.
THANK YOUÅse Meyer, Sidsel Hellebø-Hansson, Ingrid Festøy Ottesen, Svei-
nung Golimo, Anna Kristina Knaevelsrud, Ingrid Sølverud, Silje
Poulsen Viki, Sandra Grøndal, Maria Ekerhovd, Mohammed Naqvi,
Dag Asbjørnsen, Jesper Osmund, and Ida Johannssen
CONTACTFor specific questions related to the Pitching Forum:
For specific questions related to the applications for
production support: [email protected]
GENERAL QUESTIONSLASSE SKAGEN
Artistic Director Films From the South
Tel: +47 22 82 24 80 / Cell: +47 958 14 273
Email: [email protected]
SUSANN ØSTIGAARD
Managing Director Films From the South Foundation
Tel: +47 22 82 24 80 / Cell: +47 91 55 78 49
E-post: [email protected]
INGRID FESTØY OTTESEN
Senior Production Advisor, Norwegian Filminstitute
Tel: +47 22 47 45 00
Email: [email protected]
The annual SØRFOND Pitching Forum is once again opening doors, welcoming 8 pitchers from developing countries – invited to present their projects and to meet up with potential Norwegian co-producers. We expect the forum to create new relationships between directors with strong projects and accessible Norwegian producers. A new feature of this year’s process of selecting pitchers, have been to engage in a cooperation with Durban FilmMart; giving the opportunity for one of the projects presented in Durban to capture a seat at the SØRFOND Pitchingforum. This new strategy was implemented to increase the presence of African projects at the Pitching Forum, and the Tunisian director Medhi Barsaoui`s project A Son was selected for Oslo. We hope to continue this partnership with Durban next year, and perhaps also develop this kind of cooperation with similar professional film markets in other relevant regions.
Five completed films, with grants from SØRFOND, will be screened at this year’s edition of the Films from the South festival. Strong films, like Amat Escalante`s Venice winner The Untamed and Mina Keshawarz female activist documentary
Braving the waves. Inviting them as guests and promoting the result of the fund`s investments, gives an incredible opportunity to display the efforts given by all crews in each supported film.
Lasse Skagen Artistic Director, The Films From the South Foundation
Susann ØstigaardManaging Director, The Films From the South Foundation
To be able to produce films that are locally based, filmmakers in developing countries need production capital as well as an international network. The Norwegian Film Institute and the Films from the South Foundation recognize these challenges by funding the projects with money from SØRFOND.
Many of the films that have received this grant have been invited to prestigious film festival and received awards and international attention. This year the SØRFOND-funded co-production The Untamed won the Silver Lion Award for Best Director at the 73rd Venice Film Festival.
The Norwegian Film Institute is a strong supporter for building international relations. We believe networking and co-productions across nations are vital for further development of this industry. Our ambition is to support a stronger interna-tional market where SØRFOND will play an important role.
I wish you all a good pitching forum.
Sindre Guldvog CEO, The Norwegian Film Institute
SØRFOND – PAVING THE WAY FOR NEW PROJECTS
SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND 5
SØRFOND FORUM PROGRAM WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 12TH 2016
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AD_SWEDEN_SØRFONDMAGAZINE_v1.indd 4 9/14/16 5:27 PM
10.00 AM Registration – 657 Oslo, Fredensborgveien 24 D, 0177 Oslo
10.30 AM Welcome
10.35 AM Information about Sørfond and the Pitching Forum By Project Manager, Per Eirik Gilsvik and moderator Silje Poulsen Viki
10.50 AM PITCH 1: A SON
11.15 AM PITCH 2: ALL ABOUT AMAL
11.40 AM Coffee break
11.55 AM PITCH 3: AMIDST THE FOG
12.20 AM PITCH 4: NOTHING ABOUT MY MOTHER
12.45 AM Lunch
13.45 PM PITCH 5: SHOCK LABOUR
14.10 PM PITCH 6: THE DAY I LOST MY SHADOW
14.35 AM Coffee break
14.50 PM PITCH 7: THE REPORTS ON SARA AND SALEEM
15.15 PM PITCH 8: THE MOTO-SNATCHER
15.40 AM Break with fruit and snacks
16.00 PM Case study Maria Ekerhovd, founder and producer at Mer Film talks about the co-production of The Untamed, supported by Sørfond and winner of the Silver Lion Award at Venice Film Festival.
16.15 PM Panel discussion – Why Co-produce? Dag Asbjørnsen, incoming leader of the International division at the Norwegian Film Institute, Mohammed Naqvi, filmmaker and producer, presenting his latest film Among the Believers at the Films from the South Festival and Maria Ekerhovd, founder and producer at Mer Film
16:45–19:00 PM Mingling and tapas
SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUNDSØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND 76
ABOUT THE PRODUCER
Tunis born, Cinema and TV producer, Habib ATTIA, is currently managing director of CINETELEFILMS, one of the leading production companies in Tunisia and the region. CINETELEFlLMS was founded in 1983 and has produced some of the biggest blockbusters in Tunisian and Arab cinema such as Man of Ashes, Silence Of The Palace, Halfaouine.True to his editorial line and philosophy, Habib focuses on fiction and documentary projects dealing mainly with contemporary sociocultural issues.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Mehdi M. Barsaoui, born in Tunis in 1984, Mehdi is a graduate of the Higher Institute of Multimedia Arts in Tunis. He also has a University Degree from DAMS in Bologna, Italy. He directed three short-features, Sideways, Bobby and We Are Just Fine Like This selected and awarded at many international film festivals. He is currently developing his first feature film project titled A Son with the support of RAWI SUNDANCE Screenwriters Lab.
SYNOPSIS
Tunisia, Summer 2011. Fares, 40, shares his life with Meriem, and Aziz, their 7-year-old son. Fares and Meriem honor an old promise made to their son; a few days in the South to discover Tunisia’s desert, its breathtaking and stunning beauty but the trip turns into a nightmare… On an isolated road, their car is ambushed by an armed group. It doesn’t take long for some buried truths to resurface.
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
I live in a rather macho patriarchal society, built on well-entrenched Arab-Muslim values, where the Father is sacred and fatherhood reduced to a patronymic or a genetic sequence. What would happen if we learned that our son does not have our genes? How would we react? That is the starting point for me to make this movie.
Producer Habib Attia
FACTS
Original title Un Fils
English title A Son
Main producer Habib Attia, Cinetelefilms, Tunisia
Director Mehdi M. Barsaoui
Co-producers Marc Irmer, Dolce Vita Films, France
Contact information [email protected], [email protected]
Documentary/fiction Fiction
Country Tunisia
Expected running time 90 min
Production status Advanced development / financing research
Expected release date May 2018
Total budget € 776,500
Confirmed financing € 161,500
FINANCING PLAN SOURCE AMOUNT € STATUS
Main producer CINETELEFILMS 60,000 Confirmed
Tunisian Ministry of Culture - development grant 10,000 Confirmed
Tunisian Ministry of Culture - production grant 260,000 Pending
Tunisian distributor 25,000 Confirmed
Telvza TV – PRESALE 20,000 Confirmed
CINEMED 6,500 Confirmed
Arab Funds - Production grants (AFAC, DFI, ENJAAZ…) 60,000 Pending
SORFOND PRODUCTION GRANT 80,000 Pending
Other funds and grants: WCF, VSE, HBF, OIF 80,000 Pending
French co-producer DOLCE VITA FILMS 40,000 Confirmed
Aide aux cinémas du Monde - CNC France 120,000 Pending
MG French coproducer/int. Sales agent 15,000 Pending
I never had a father. Not that he is dead, but he just decided to run away from his responsibilities. That’s why I want to make this film. I’m inventing the father I never had. I want to dive into the psychology of a father, try to understand him, confront him with the worst of himself and push him to his limits. I want my main character to free himself of all the stereotypes that society imposes on him. I want to describe the struggle of a father who is not one in society’s eyes. To set my story in the summer of 2011 is not a coincidence. It’s a pivotal period that saw the fall of the Ben Ali regime in Tunisia right before Qaddafi’s fall in Libya. Talking about these revolutions in a frontal way does not interest me. What really interests me is the impact of these revolutions on a fairly normal family. A family that lived in a cocoon and finds itself confronted with the reality of a country and to the insides of a dictatorship that devastated each one of us. Obviously the central theme of this film will be fatherhood but several other topics will implicitly appear. The relationship to the body, female adultery that is still not well
exploited in Arab cinema. Why do we forgive a man and not a woman? Here we deal once again with macho concepts of the society I live in.
The topics I discuss in the film are closely linked to the flesh, to the body. To me the film is nervous, a camera in constant motion, organic and visceral. Therefor my choice to call upon Sofian El Fani as a DOP (Blue is the warmest color, Palme d’Or Cannes Film Festival and Timbuktu for which he was awarded the French Cesar for best cinematography). Sofian, whose camera becomes an extension of his body will capture every intention, each pain and each gesture.
I feel the visceral need to make this film to be at peace with myself over all the things I never dared tell my father. My words will be projected on the screen, this is my way to get his attention. I want him to see how he was in my imagination; I want him to see how I would have liked him to be.
A SON
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Amal represents a lost angry generation that has no one to represent it. Excluded from the political equation and sandwiched between two extremes - The Military establishment and the religious fanatic groups - they have no group to belong to.
Amal was beaten by the police during the protests in 2011. 5 years later, she decided to join the police force. Her narrative ark gives a clear statement on what happened to Egypt, the Arab Spring and the young faces behind it.
Amal also tackles a rarely seen angle of the Egyptian revolution, that of women who fought hand in hand with men then got affected and even hurt by it as Amal did. After the revolution, women were completely excluded and put back in the shadows where most Arab men think their place is.
The name of our character reveals that hope still emerges even when boiling anger is being suppressed. Rebellion stays despite of the apparent conforming.
The frustration and anger of teenagers are universal but never has it been so alarming as today. This young Arab generation grew up surrounded by only death and violence and their lives are a Russian roulette shuttling between hopes and deception.
The Arab world and Middle East never hit the headlines as much as in the last decade. A whole generation of young Arabs witnessed so much violence and injustice. During the Arab Spring, they fought for a change, only to experience that when change came, the new regime silenced them with the same old repressive methods.
The failure of the Arab revolutions led many to seek refuge in Europe in order to survive while their frustration and unresolved anger remained. We’re seeing many European youngsters joining Isis and other fanatic groups who they have no association with but are using them to release their anger and find fulfillment for their spiritual void.
To the point where we question: what choices this young generation has while growing up in such an era? What happens as they swallow their frustration and anger? Will we be sleeping next to a ticking time bomb?
This angry and lost generation is boiling and being drawn to violence and fanaticism – whether it’s a cult, or a religion, or a violent group – and I believe tackling their issues and anger now is the most intuitive and reasonable approach to follow.
ALL ABOUT AMAL
ABOUT THE PRODUCER
Myriam Sassine is a Producer and partner at Abbout Productions - one of the most established film production companies in the Middle East. She worked in content development at Lucky Monkey Pictures (USA) then through Abbout, acted as producer and/or associate producer on several features that have been screened at a variety of festivals worldwide. Myriam is also associated with Schortcut Films, a company dedicated to finance and coproduce international films.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Mohamed Siam is a documentary and fiction filmmaker who have received several grants from Sundance, IDFA, OIF and Catapult. Siam’s first feature Whose Country screened at New York Film Festival, Karlovy Vary and Hot Docs. An alumnus of many prestigious film institutions such as Sundance Labs, IDFA Academy, La Femis, La Fabrique des Cinémas du Monde in Cannes Film Festival. Siam is also a Berlinale, Durban and Beirut Talent Alumnus who has won Robert Bosch Film Prize.
SYNOPSIS
Filmed over 5 years, Amal is an observational self-discovering journey following Amal, an Egyptian teenager, while she grows from age 14 till 20 searching for her place and identity in a male-dominant society and a country in constant political turmoil. Amal, whose name literally translates to “hope”, is carving a place for herself within this hostile environment by defying the older generation and her pro-state family.
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
Seeing all these young faces 5 years ago, when the Arab spring started, I started thinking what will become of all these youngsters when reality will hit after a failed revolution and they’ll have to plan their life ahead, thinking of jobs, marriage and future within the current tormented social and political situation.
What will become of their anger and dreams? This story starts when the fights and protests are over and everyone starts to deal with the aftermath.
Amal is a story of defiance versus compliance within a police state at a difficult turning point of the Arab world’s modern history. In this part of the world, each choice one makes carries danger especially when it’s a young Arab woman who is very different from the herd and who chose not to compromise.
Producer Myriam Sassine
FACTS
Original title Amal
English title All About Amal
Main producer Myriam Sassine / Abbout Productions
Director Mohamed Siam
Co-producers Mohamed Siam (Artkhana), Sara Bokemeyer, Arnaud Dommerc (andolfi)
Contact information [email protected]
Documentary/fiction Documentary
Country Egypt / Lebanon / Germany / France
Expected running time 80 min
Production status Almost ready to transition from production into postproduction
Expected release date September 2017
Total budget € 331,705
Confirmed financing € 195,341
FINANCING PLAN SOURCE AMOUNT € STATUS
IDFA Bertha Fund 17,500 Confirmed
Catapult Film Fund 18,182 Confirmed
Robert Bosch Film Prize 70,000 Confirmed
AFAC Production Grant 18,182 Confirmed
OIF Production Grant 20,000 Confirmed
Hot Docs Blue Ice Group Documentary Fund 5,455 Confirmed
Thessaloniki works in progress award 15,000 Confirmed
SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUNDSØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND 1110
Augusto Sandino is interested in working with elements of reality and bringing them to the realm of fiction. Fiction as part of life, of imagination and art. Fiction as the true engine of cinema.
Amidst the Fog represents the clash between the traditional creole cosmogony and the new ways of life imposed by the system that has been sweeping away authentic imaginaries. In this sense the film takes on a value: Society has been taught or programmed to not accept difference, and it either ignores it or rejects it. To be different in a hegemonic world is to become enemy of the context or the social, material and cultural establishment. Our actor is different; he´s got Hallermann-Streiff syndrome, a special condition that currently affects less than 200 people in the world.
Colombia has 60% of the moors on the planet. The páramo (moor) is the setting of Amidst the Fog; a place destined to disappear by the hand of man. It is found at the heart of the Cundi-Boyacá region, deep in the Colombian Andes mountains, a relatively isolated area with few inhabitants left. Right there,
more than half of the drinking water used in the cities is naturally produced. Now, with climate change, long droughts and rainless seasons our ecosystem is transforming. Forcing us to think of water, simply because it is very possible that, obeying scientific research and forecasts, the moors will cease to exist in 20 to 30 years. F lives right there with his father.
The film uses mythical and metaphysical resources, it can be absurd and will not follow the normal conventions for narrative filmmaking.
We seek a European co-producer as the final scene of the film is set in Europe. This will also allow us to have access to regional funds, as well as broaden the horizons in terms of distribution.
Augusto brings the sensitivity and his personal point of view to give life to this story. With this film we wish to create something new, a strange, alien, representation, distant from the usual representation of reality or even fiction.
AMIDST THE FOG
ABOUT THE PRODUCER
Ivette Liang graduated in Production from the International Film School of San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba (EICTV). She has produced in Cuba, Perú, and Colombia. She is the founding member and co-leader partner in the production company Galaxia 311, established in Colombia in 2013. Venecia (2014) and Sharing Stella (2016) are among the films Liang has produced.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Augusto Sandino studied film in Los Angeles and San Antonio de Los Baños. He has made five short films that have gathered some international awards. He has worked as a television writer in Colombia and the United States. And as a script and editing consultant. He has produced four feature films selected at festivals such as Berlinale, Bafici, Busan and BIFF. Gentle Breath is his feature film debut and will premiere at Tallinn BlackNights 2016.
SYNOPSIS
At five thousand meters above sea level, a strange and deep young man working as guardian of the moor, imagines a better fate far from home. However, F is not alone. The only way to realize his dream is by ending the life of his father.
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
I feel that F and the mountain agreed to look for me, and I let myself be found to make Amidst the Fog: A character and a place, that magical combination is what motivates me. Also, everything that is underneath and beyond, what is not told but shown. It is a very personal work born out of the deep pain of losing my father about a year ago.
Producer and Director Augusto Sandino
FACTS
Original title Entre la niebla
English title Amidst the Fog
Main producer Augusto Sandino (Schweizen Media Group)
Director Augusto Sandino
Co-producers Ivette Liang (Galaxia 311) Colombia
Contact information [email protected]
Website www.schweizen.co
Documentary/fiction Fiction
Country Colombia
Expected running time 80min
Production status Development and financing
Expected release date 2017-2018
Total budget € 490,000
Confirmed financing € 67,691
FINANCING PLAN SOURCE AMOUNT € STATUS
Schweizen Media Group (Colombia) 30,160 Confirmed
Galaxia 311 (Colombia) 22,379 Confirmed
Colombian Film fund (Production) 200,020 Pending
Sorfond / Norwegian Coproducer 140,000 Pending
Latina Estudio (Brasil) 97,440 Pending
Cinema Law incentive 15,152 Confirmed
SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUNDSØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND 1312
In Tunisia, the children’s rights are not protected by the Constitution. For the justice system, a child is not considered as a victim. He or she is under the protection of the parents. But sometimes, those parents are «monsters» like those of our character, Sawsen. There are no laws to protect a child from abuse committed by his parents.
According to the Tunisian Children’s Rights Organisation, 80% of sexual assaults are committed on children and this phenomenon is growing. There even exists prostitution networks where the victims are children. The justice system is too lenient with the culprits when they are arrested and the penalty is not dissuasive. Therefore, recurrences are not rare. This is the story that the film will relate. Sawsen, a 6 year old girl, was tortured and forced into prostitution by her parents. Her parents only got 8 years in prison as a penalty, and will now soon be freed and have stated their wish to see their now 13-year old daughter.
Sawsen still has marks on her body from the abuse made by her parents as well as severe psychological wounds that will unable her to have the social, emotional or sexual life of any ordinary woman. She also lives in the constant fear of seeing her parents freed. Parents who may find her one day. In Sawsen’s view these «monsters» didn’t pay a just price for their crime and if they are freed, she thinks they will start again.
With this documentary, we wish to make a film based on the story of one character (character driven story). An emotional story instead of an intellectual film. A film that aims to tell a touching story about family, childhood and justice. In some parts ,we chose to explore the animation’s capacity to move the spectator with a strong story told in a child’s language. For large parts of the film, we also want to work on a separate sound track, introducing sounds coming from the child’s and our character’s world (like breathing, sighing, foot steps, onomatopoeia, Siwar singing or reciting the Quran etc.) in order to enrich the spectator’s experience and describe Sawsen’s world.
NOTHING ABOUT MY MOTHER
ABOUT THE PRODUCER
MACHMOUM PRODUCTIONS was founded in 2007 by Latifa Doghri and Salem Trabelsi. The company encourages a vision of cinema that is based on strong storytelling documentaries with a range of topics such women and child rights, racism and gender equality.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
LATIFA DOGHRIAfter studying French literature at the University of Tunis and the University of Mons (Belgium), Doghri first specialized in writing and editing children stories before further studying visual communication.
SALEM TRABELSI Trabelsi has a Bachelor degree in communication and language sciences from the University of Mons (Belgium). He is a journalist and novelist as well as filmmaker and producer.
Together they produced and directed Boxing With Her, official selection at Doha Tribeca Film Festival 2011, African Film Festival in Stockholm, Women Film Festival in Sun Valley and winning the Golden Hawk at the Arab Film Festival of Rotterdam 2012. Made In Gougou, directed by Doghri and produced by Trabelsi, won the documentary prize at the African Film Festival in Luxor, Egypt in 2014.
SYNOPSIS
Siwar is 13 years old. The medical report confirm that her life as a woman is condemned for ever. Nowadays, she wishes to take revenge on her mother and step-father that will be freed from prison soon. A mother and a step-father that tortured her and forced her into prostitution from the age of 6 to 8, and towards whom the justice system has been too lenient.
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
Certainly, there is a wide cinematic potential with Sawsen’s touching story. Her identity will be kept anonymous during the film to protect her and keep her from being stigmatized. A strong and universal story with the capacity to move the spectator. But we are also making this film to talk about an absurd judicial system, in which children’s rights are not respected. A system where children are not considered victims because of a society where paedophilia and child sex labour are «not happening».
Producers and directors Latifa Doghri & Salem Trabelsi
FACTS
Original title Rien sur ma mère
English title Nothing About My Mother
Main producers Latifa Doghri & Salem Trabelsi (Machmoum productions)
Directors Latifa Doghri & Salem Trabelsi
Contact information [email protected]
Website www.machmoumfilm.com
Documentary/fiction Documentary
Country Tunisia
Expected running time 72 min
Production status Development
Expected release date July 2018
Total budget € 142,395
Confirmed financing € 100,470
FINANCING PLAN SOURCE AMOUNT € STATUS
Machmoum productions 33,929 confirmed
National ministry of culture (acquisition rights) 10,000 confirmed
Focus location (in kind) 27,000 confirmed
Sindbad distribution (investment) 14,541 confirmed
Phytéal cosmetics (private sponsor) 15,403 confirmed
Sorfond 41,522 pending
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A Cuban Land of Oz in the 80’s.
Since Raul Castro came to power in Cuba, important political and economic changes have occurred in our country and these changes remind us of the Soviet “Perestroika”. That is the way Shock Labor appears.
When the Soviet Union was about to disappear, a young woman wants to escape from her life in the countryside where she lives as a nurse, wife and mother. She finds refuge in skeet shooting and eventually succeeds in escaping thanks to a tornado that blows her away “somewhere over the rainbow”.
This story originates from real events: how director Díaz Soza’s parents decided to have a child (him) in 1988. But it doesn’t pretend to be realistic or historical. The facts are all twisted to create this surreal fable.
Shock Labor imitates the epic euphoria of Soviet patriotic dramas and the sentimentalism of American musicals. The film recycles these two old styles in an attempt to create an ironic romance, like the current relationship between socialist Cuba and its historical “enemy”, USA. That is why we will use wide-angle lenses and we will work with epic music and with
an emotive editing. But these narrative tools will contrast with the minimalistic performances of the actors, the ironic dialogues, and cruel amoral characters, just like the performances we see in Aki Kaurismäki’s films.
In order to keep the sensation of classics recycling, the tornado that blows Wilma away will be an imitation of the effects for the tornado in The Wizard of Oz by Victor Flemming.
This pastiche of film genres becomes Shock Labor in a post-modern parodic and original drama that reflects on the sense of family foundation in moments of incertitude, radical changes and no sign of hope in the future; and turns this independent art-house movie into an enjoyable piece for criticsand audience as well.
The screenwriter and director is a very young Cuban filmmaker with a theatrical formation. He has proved since his theatrical plays and earliest films his talent and creativity to direct a feature able to amuse its spectators. Being a Latin American young director with his first feature film, allows the film to find many Financing Funds, Film Festivals and TV Channels with programs for first feature films and young Latin-American directors. Our goal is to start shooting in April 2018.
SHOCK LABOUR
ABOUT THE PRODUCER
MARIA CARLA DEL RIO (Havana, 1986). Young Cuban producer focused in the author cinema productions and leader of the production group Marinca Filmes. She has produced films for renown Cuban filmmakers, the most recent one being the documentary Between the Lines (about to have theatrical release and premiere on TV).
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
MARCOS DÍAZ (Santa Clara, 1988). A novel Cuban film director who comes from theatre. In spite of his short career in filmmaking, at the age of 17 he directed Fractal, a documentary awarded in the 5th Muestra Joven, Cuba. He directed the play Bad Taste played at the Offene Welt International Festival, Germany, 2015. Shock Labor is his first feature film as a director.
SYNOPSIS
In 1988, when the Soviet Union was about to disappear, a young Cuban nurse, passionate for skeet shooting regrets becoming pregnant and longs for a way out of her countryside life. After a tornado blows her away into a cay and a touristic life, she learns that there’s no place like home.
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
Shock Labor originates in real events: how my parents decided to have a child (me) in 1988. But it doesn’t pretend to be realistic or historical. The facts are all twisted to create this surreal fable.
Producer María Carla del Rio
FACTS
Original title Obra de choque
English title Shock Labor
Main producer María Carla del Rio / MARINCA FILMES
Director Marcos Díaz Sosa
Co-producers Claudia Calviño, La 5ta Avenida, Cuba
Contact information [email protected]
Documentary/fiction Fiction
Country Cuba
Expected running time 90 min
Production status Development stage with a 28% of the estimated budget already secured. A third version of the script and a short-teaser available
Expected release date April 3rd, 2018
Total budget € 480,061
Confirmed financing € 135,737
FINANCING PLAN SOURCE AMOUNT € STATUS
MARINCA FILMES 60,518 Confirmed
La 5ta Avenida 35,000 Confirmed
Haciendo Cine / Muestra Joven 7,533 Confirmed
Estudio ST 19,444 Confirmed
Jenova Pro 13,240 Confirmed
IBERMEDIA Development Fund 6,481 Pending
SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUNDSØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND 1716
Producer’s Note, Amira Kaadan - KAF Production
While the world is focused on the events and turbulences of the Arab Spring, a story of a mother emerges within this turmoil. It is Syria 2011, a time where the economic and security situation is aggravated by increased violence. For Sana, the search of daily necessities becomes a journey into the suburbs where she gets caught in the revolution’s world and the demonstrations. It is then that she discovers that people may lose their shadows along the way. The film The Day I lost My Shadow is written and directed by Soudade Kaadan. Soudade has several documentary films in her repertoire. For Damascus Roof and Tales of Paradise she won the second prize of the Muhur Arab Documentary award at the Dubai Film Festival in 2010, and with Looking for Pink she won the Martine Filippi Award at the 29th URTI Grand Prix. Together we formed a team of writer/director and producer and we established a Production Company under the name “KAF Production”. Soudade also recently has written and directed Besieged Bread, a short fiction film which premiered at Fribourg International Film Festival 2016. In addition to her latest documentary Obscure in post-production which won to prizes at the Final Cut in Venice 2016 workshop.
I believe The Day I Lost My Shadow will gain great interest among the regional and international audience. The story touches many cultural and emotional aspects of the lives of individuals in the Arabic society in general and in specific their lives after the impact of the Arab Spring. The world being focused currently on the war that is taking place in Syria, viewers will also be attracted to understand how real personas endured these chaotic times and how did they react, evolve and respond.
Since it is not possible to shoot the film in Syria at this moment, the main shooting location will be the borders of Lebanon adjacent to the Syrian border due to its similarity to the Syrian environment. The film received the support of the Cinema du Monde (CNC), Hubert Bals co-production minority fund and the Arab Human Rights Fund among others.
The accomplishment of this project is particularly important for us as Syrians on both personal and professional levels. It is through this film that we lay out our contribution to the Syrian Spring; through telling the stories of human beings, their suffering, their endurance and their survival.
THE DAY I LOST MY SHADOW
ABOUT THE PRODUCER
Soudade Kaadan is a Syrian director, born in France. She studied theater criticism in the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Syria and graduated from Saint Joseph University - Institut des Etudes Scénique, Audiovisuelles et cinématographiques (IESAV), Lebanon. She directed and produced documentary films for Aljazeera Documentary Channel, UNDP, UNHCR and UNICEF. Her films have screened at several venues nationally and internationally and have received several international awards.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Amira Kaadan was born in Paris, France to a Syrian family. She earned her Executive Master in Business Administration from Dauphine University in Paris, France in 2010. She started as an assistant producer in the films Looking for Pink and Damascus Roof and Tales of Paradise, both directed by Soudade Kaadan. At the end of 2011, she co-founded a production company under the name “KAF Production” where her career as a producer took off. She is currently working on her first fiction feature film The Day I Lost my Shadow. She was part of the Producers Network at Cannes Film Festival 2014.
SYNOPSIS
It is Syria 2011, the coldest winter the country has ever witnessed. All Sana dreams about is a hot shower and cooking gas to prepare a meal for her son. She takes a day off from her job to search for a gas cylinder.
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
This film was written in a country where tomorrow is an unimaginable thought. What is tomorrow if you are living under constant bombing? Alternating between the relief to be missed by the falling missiles and the grief imagining it fell on someone else. Tomorrow became a luxury. That’s why the film doesn’t try to predict or talk about the future. It limits itself in three days of Sana’s life, a single mother raising her only child, in a precise moment of Damascus history.
Producer Amira Kaadan
FACTS
Original title The Day I lost My Shadow
English title The Day I lost My Shadow
Main producer Amira Kaadan, KAF Production
Director Soudade Kaadan
Co-producer Claire Lajoumard, Acrobates Films, France
Contact information [email protected]
Website www.kafproduction.com
Documentary/fiction Fiction
Country Syria
Expected running time 90 min
Production status Pre-Production
Expected release date September 2017
Total budget € 727,136
Confirmed financing € 362,136
FINANCING PLAN SOURCE AMOUNT € STATUS
KAF Production 13,636 Confirmed
Development: DOHA FILM INSTITUTE/SANAD/PCG 35,682 Confirmed
Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC) 31,818 Confirmed
ARAB HUMAN RIGHTS FUND, production 54,545 Confirmed
ASIAN CINEMA FUND (ACF) 7,818 Confirmed
17,500 Confirmed
ACROBATES FILMS - Producer support 13,636 Confirmed
World Cinema Support (CNC) - postproduction 130,000 Confirmed
Cosmodigital - Postproduction services 20,000 Confirmed
HBF+Europe Minority Fund 55,000 Confirmed
Sorfond/Pitching Forum 120,000 Pending
Post-prod: DOHA FILM Inst./ ENJAAZ/AHRF/WCF/IDFC 245,000 Pending
SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUNDSØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND 1918
Sarah and Saleem find in each other the solace and refuge they need from their troubled relationships. They have intense sexual encounters in the back of Saleem’s delivery truck away from the eyes of their Palestinian and Israeli communities in Jerusalem and behind the backs of Saleem’s wife and Sarah’s husband.
When Saleem innocently invites Sarah for a drink at a bar in the Palestinian Territories, their relationship begins to take a political dimension. Following a jealous argument with a politically connected man that was hitting on Sarah, Saleem is arrested by the Palestinian Authority with the fabricated accusation of running a drug and prostitution ring bringing Israeli prostitutes to work in the West Bank. The only way out is for him to find a more connected man to vow for him. Luckily, a Palestinian official agrees to help and attests that the intelligence report implicating Saleem is inaccurate. But in order to guarantee Saleem’s release, the official is forced to provide an unquestionable justification for Saleem’s presence
with an Israeli woman in the heart of the Palestinian Territories. So he claims that Saleem took Sarah to the bar upon his request as part of a mission to try to recruit as a spy for the Palestinians. The official makes Saleem write fake counter reports detailing his encounters with Sarah and what he presumably did to try to recruit her.
All is well, Saleem gets his freedom back and Sarah and Saleem carry on with their lives until the counter reports tragically land in the hands of the Israeli authorities following an Israeli incursion into the Palestinian Territories. Saleem is arrested again and this time his only hope is if Sarah can tell their true story despite the troubles with her husband, with Saleem’s wife and with the Israeli authorities.
THE REPORTS ON SARAH AND SALEEM
ABOUT THE PRODUCER
PalCine Productions is a Palestine-based company producing narrative and documentary films in addition to providing production services to local and international groups, non-profit organizations and other institutions. PalCine is the producer of the narrative feature film Love, Theft and Other Entanglements (Berlinale Panorama 2015) and several award winning shorts.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Muayad Alayan is a film director, cinematographer and producer based in Palestine. His directorial debut, Love Theft and Other Entanglements, premiered at the Berlinale Panorama in 2015 and was distributed in over 20 countries. His award winning short film, Lesh Sabreen, premiered at Clermont-Ferrand in 2009 and went on to screen at over 60 festivals worldwide
SYNOPSIS
The affair of a married Palestinian man and a married Israeli woman in Jerusalem takes a dangerous political dimension when they are spotted in the wrong place at the wrong time leaving them to deal with more than their broken marriages.
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
The film uses the setting of Jerusalem to explore our capacity as humans to connect with one another despite our environments that set us apart. Despite the challenges humans can connect and stand with each other, not by ignoring the realities that set them apart in the first place, but by identifying their common pains and quests and breaking from the divisive expectations to do what’s right.
Producer and director Muayad Alayan
FACTS
Original title Al Taqareer an Sarah wa Saleem
English title The Reports on Sarah and Saleem
Main producer Muayad Alayan & Rami Alayan, PalCine Productions
Director Muayad Alayan
Co-producers Pierre Menahem & Juliette Lepoutre, Still Moving (France)Hanneke Niens, Key Film (Holland)
Contact information [email protected] / [email protected]
Website www.palcine.net
Documentary/fiction Fiction
Country Palestine
Expected running time 120 min
Production status Financing and seeking additional co-production partners.
Expected release date 2018
Total budget € 852,336
Confirmed financing € 145,000
FINANCING PLAN SOURCE AMOUNT € STATUS
Hubert Bals Development Fund 9,000 Confirmed
PalCine Productions (Producer investment) 21,000 Confirmed
Mad Solutions (investment and MG) 115,000 Confirmed
CNC (Cinémas de Monde) 150,000 Pending
Medienboard 150,000 Pending
Hubert Bals+NFF / Hubert Bals+Minority EU 100,000 Pending
Sorfond 100,000 Pending
Other (World Cinema Fund, Vision Sud Est, Hubert Bals + Minority Europe, ZDF/ARTE) 207,336 Pending
SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUNDSØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND 2120
In December 2013, in Tucumán, a northern Argentinian province, Police Force initiated a wage claim protest, that soon turned into a strike. The following days, the province turned into a ticking time bomb. With no police in the streets the largely outcasted lower classes, kept under occasional and miserable odd jobs – having lived alongside crime for ages, took up the streets and looted supermarkets, house appliance stores and groceries. In order to take care of their goods the small stores and retail owners armed themselves to repel the plundering adding chaos and danger.
People rioting, riding motorbikes, running away on horse pulled carriages with bags full of merchandise and flat screen sets. By the time the police strike was over, something had hopelessly been broken.
Without a car, life in Tucumán can be very hard. There is no public transportation after midnight. To travel from the inland province to the head city is a full time job. The option for most of lower resourced working class families and individuals is the motorcycle. Sometimes carrying four or five passengers, mostly without helmets, they drive on sidewalks, against traffic, forcing car drivers to stay alert at all times. Adding to this struggle for public space is the fact that motorbikes have become the key element in a very usual crime: snatching.
They may hit you in the middle of the street until you let your bag go, or they may corner you at gunpoint, or knife, before they set off. This is the social and political breeding ground from where The Moto-snatcher arises. What takes place when a thief regrets his deeds? And if he wishes to redeem himself and make up for what he did, is forgiveness an option? The film proposes to face up and expose the gaps between those who have a bit more and the dispossessed. The Moto-snatcher scrutinizes Tucumán society and its dysfunctional dynamics with a clinical avid eye that does not wish to resign neither the storytelling flow, the comedy, or hope for their characters.
By the director of the awarded film The owners (Special Mention, Semaine de la Critique 2013). The Moto-snatcher will be shot in March 2017. The project was selected at Fundación Carolina & Ibermedia’s Iberoamerican script development course. The project already won Bolivia Lab 2015, FNA- EICTV Grant, Ventana Andina Award for Development, and Second Best award in VFF Talent Highlight Pitch Award at Berlinale Talent Project Market 2016.
THE MOTO-SNATCHER
ABOUT THE PRODUCER
Rizoma is an independent production company created in 2001 by Hernán Musaluppi and Natacha Cervi. Rizoma’s films have won awards several prestigious film festivals and our films has found commercial distribution around the world. Our productions includes The lost brother, La obra del siglo, The owners, Un mundo misterioso, El custodio, Medianeras, Gigante and Whisky, among others.
Murillo Cine is an emerging production company created by Georgina Baisch and Cecilia Salim. The company has produced Hijos nuestros by Nicolás Suárez and Juan F. Gebauer which screened at the Malaga Film Festival 2016 and The Future Perfect by Nele Wolatz which won First Feature prize at Locarno 2016.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Agustín Toscano, is a theatre director, actor and filmmaker who lives in San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina. He belonged to the theatre collective Gente no convencida in which he directed a series of works in Tucumán. His first film, The owners, was co-directed with Ezequiel Radusky and received it´s world premiere at Semaine de la critique cannes at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013 and earned a jury special mention.
SYNOPSIS
From his motorbike Miguel snatches the handbag of an old woman on the street, but as the old woman is injured during the robbery Miguel is tormented by guilt. When he realizes she suffers a memory loss, Miguel conceals his identity and passes himself off as her loving and caring tenant in order to make things right. A strong relational drama from the Argentinian city of Tucuman, a city overtaken by chaos, violence and riots.
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
The film attempts to reveal an almost invisible drama. A man regrets his actions and wishes to redeem himself. In The Moto-snatcher, remorse is a hidden, shameful and lonely gesture, to which there’s just one witness, the film’s spectator.Miguel’s point of view will be followed throughout the whole film. The audience and the character will share equal amount of information, enabling us to surf the unveiling plot side by side with the victimary. To experience his fear, his guilt, his need for redemption and, finally, his punishment.
Producer Georgina Baisch
FACTS
Original title El Motoarrebatador
English title The Moto-snatcher
Main producer Rizoma & Murillo Cine Hernán Musaluppi - Georgina Baisch
Director Agustín Toscano
Co-producers Laurent Lavolé, Gloria Films (France)
Sales Agent The Match Factory
Contact information [email protected]
Website Facebook: rizomafilms / www.murillocine.com
Documentary/fiction Fiction
Country Argentina
Expected running time 90 min
Production status Financing
Expected release date February 2018
Total budget € 645.569
Confirmed financing € 474.140
FINANCING PLAN SOURCE AMOUNT € STATUS
INCAA 308,571 Confirmed
The Match Factory (Mg) 30,000 Confirmed
Gloria Films (French Coproducer) 120,000 Confirmed
Rizoma (Own Investment) 15,569 Confirmed
Vision Sud Est / World Cinema Fund 4,5000 Pending
Sorfond 90,000 Pending
Other funds 36,929 Pending
SFFS / Production Funds 106,800 Pending
Game Changer Film Fund (for women filmmakers) 890,000 Pending
SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUNDSØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND 2322
FACTS
Original title Seperti Dendam Rindu Harus Dibayar Tuntas
English title Love & Vengeance
Main producer Muhammad Zaidy, Meiske Taurisia
Director Edwin
Co-producer Lorna Tee
Contact information [email protected]
Website www.palarifilms.com
Documentary/fiction Fiction
Country Indonesia
Expected running time 90 min
Production status Development
Expected release date December 2017
Total budget € 877,000
Confirmed financing € 613,000
FACTS
Original title Irene
English title Irene
Main producer Felicitas Raffo, Cepa Audiovisual
Director Celina Murga
Co-producer Juan Villegas, Tresmilmundos Cine
Contact information [email protected]
Documentary/fiction Fiction
Country Argentina
Expected running time 90 min
Production status Development
Expected release date May 2018
Total budget € 900,000
Confirmed financing € 350,000
FACTS
Original title Dere e Hapur
English title Open Door
Main producer Eno Milkani, Bunker Film
Director Florenc Papas
Co-producers Daniele Baldacci, Blucinematv (Italy), Dritan Huqi, OnFilm Production (Albania)
Contact information [email protected]
Documentary/fiction Fiction
Country Albania
Expected running time 90 min
Production status Fund raising
Expected release date Early 2018
Total budget € 362,033
Confirmed financing € 228,665
LOVE & VENGEANCEIRENE OPEN DOOR
ABOUT THE PRODUCERS
Producers Muhammad Zaidy (Athirah, 2016) and Meiske Taurisia (Blind Pig Who Wants To Fly, 2008; Postcards from the Zoo, 2012; Rocket
Rain, 2013) are currently overseeing three films in development and pre-production. These films aim to combine successful box-office screenwriters, a literary author and respected award-winning directors.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Edwin was born in Surabaya, Indonesia, in 1978. His latest film, Post-
cards From The Zoo was nominated for Golden Bear at Berlinale 2012. His first feature Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly received the FIPRESCI Prize at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2009, and his short film Kara, Anak Sebatang Pohon was the first Indonesian film to be shown on the Director’s Fortnight in Cannes 2005.
SYNOPSIS
“What would you do with a man who could not get it up?”, asked Ajo Kawir. “I would marry him.” answered Iteung. That day, Iteung tasted freedom after ten years of prison and the first thing she did on her first day out was to kill the two policemen who made her husband’s “bird” limp. In a society ruled by machismo and patriarchy, a hibernating “bird” becomes a very serious matter. In a life of brutality and hardship, the sleeping bird is an allegory for a peaceful and serene life, even when the whole world tries desperately to rouse it.
ABOUT THE PRODUCER
Felicitas Raffo created Cepa Audiovisual with her partner Andrés Longares in 2005. She produced several fiction and documentaries as: Magallanes (2015) by Salvador del Solar, Feriado (2014) by Diego Araujo, Séptimo (2013) by Patxi Amezcua, Leones (2010) by Jazmín López and Historias que solo existen al ser recordadas (2011) by Julia Murat.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Director Celina Murga has directed four feature films: Ana y los otros,
Una semana solos, Escuela Normal and La tercera orilla. Her films have taken part in acknowledged film festivals such as the Berlinale, San Sebastián, Venezia and Toronto. Her last film, La tercera orilla, was part of 2014 Berlinale Official Competition. In 2008, she was selected by Martin Scorsese to be his protégé, as part of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative.
SYNOPSIS
Irene, a 50 years old woman, loses her son, 11 years old, unexpectedly. Her whole world collapses. In time, she decides to return to university, to the studies she had given up when she was young. Irene finds, in this new world and in human contact with others, the possibility of giving new meaning to her life.
ABOUT THE PRODUCER
Eno Milkani first studied theatre direction at the Academy of Perform-ing Arts in Tirana, Albania. He then pursued cinema studies at the European Film College in Ebeltoft, Denmark. With Albania’s award-winning filmmaker Piro Milkani, he co-directed The Sorrow of Madame
Shnajder (2008) which was Albania’s official Oscar selection and played in numerous film festivals. He launched the film production company Bunker Film with his father Piro Milkani in 1992.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Florenc Papas studied film directing in Tirana, at Marubi Film Acade-my. After graduation, he developed his craft working in numerous short films and features, promotional videos, television series and broadcast documentaries. Since 2015, Papas has served as one of the film pro-grammers for the annual Tirana IFF. Florenc is a recent alumnus of the Talents Sarajevo 2015, Berlinale Talents 2016, Midpoint 2016 and First Films First program.
SYNOPSIS
Elma is a young Albanian woman living in Italy. She is pregnant, and the father is now in jail. Not knowing who to turn to for help, she decides to go back to her hometown in Albania and to her older sister, Rudina, whom she left behind a couple of years earlier.
SØRFOND FORUM 2016 – RUNNER UPSIn addition to the selected projects the jury has chosen three runner ups.
Open Door
Irene
Love & Vengeance
SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUNDSØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND 2524
MAP OF LATIN AMERICAN DREAMSDocumentary Argentina
Director/script: Martin Weber Script: Martin Weber
Main producer Maravillacine
Norwegian co-producer Lightsource Film Production AS - Arne Dahr
Grant NOK 280,000 (approx. € 30,400)
THE HEIRESSES Fiction Paraguay
Director/script Marcelo Martinessi
Main producer La Babosa Cine
Norwegian co-producer Norsk Filmproduksjon AS - Hilde Berg
Grant NOK 415,000 (approx. € 45,000)
RETABLO Fiction Peru
Director Alvaro Delgado Aparicio
Script Hector Gálves and Alvaro Delgado Aparicio
Main producer Siri prod
Norwegian co-producer Dag Hoel Filmprod AS - Dag Hoel
Grant NOK 460,000 (approx. € 50,000)
CACTUS FLOWER Fiction Egypt
Director/script Hala ElKoussy
Main producer: Transit Films
Norwegian co-producer DUOfilm AS - Marie Fuglestein Lægreid
and Linda Bolstad
Grant NOK 370,000 (approx. € 40,200)
THE IMMERSED FAMILY Fiction Argentina
Director Maria Alché Script: Maria Alché
Main producer Pasto - Barbara Fransisco
Norwegian co-producer 4 ½ Fiksjon AS - Turid Øversveen
Grant NOK 550,000 (approx. € 59,700)
BRAVING THE WAVESDocumentary Iran
Director/script Mina Keshavarz
Main producer MinDoc
Norwegian co-producer Gammaglimt AS - Christian Falch
Grant NOK 180,000 (approx. € 19,500)
WHERE LIFE IS BORNFiction Mexico
Director/script Carlos Reygadas
Main producer Mantarraya Producciones
Norwegian co-producer MER Film AS - Maria Ekerhovd
Grant NOK 280,000 (approx. € 30,400)
CANDELARIA Fiction Colombia
Director Jhonny Hendrix
Script Maria Camila Arias and Jhonny Hendrix
Main producer Antorcha Films
Norwegian co-producer Dag Hoel Filmprod AS - Dag Hoel
Grant NOK 415,000 (approx. € 45,000)
WAJIB Fiction Jordan/Palestine
Director/script Annemarie Jacir
Main producer Philistine Films
Norwegian co-producer Ape&Bjørn AS - Ruben Thorkildsen
Grant 550,000 NOK (approx. 59,700)
THE PROJECTS SUPPORTED BY SØRFOND IN 2016 THE PROJECTS SUPPORTED BY SØRFOND IN 2015
CEMETERY LIFEDirector/script Barbara Politsch, Philippines
Main producer Southern Lantern Studios
Norwegian co-prod Merkur Filmproduksjon AS / by P. Vennerød
Grant NOK 400,000 (Approx. € 47,300)
LUXEMBOURGDirector/script Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, Ukraine
Main producer Garmata Film
Norwegian co-prod DUOfilm AS / by L. Bolstad og M. Fuglestein
Grant NOK 500,000 (Approx. € 59,200)
LA FAMILIADirector/script Gustavo Rondón, Venezuela
Main producer La Pandilla Produccione
Norwegian co-prod Dag Hoel Filmproduksjon AS / by D. Hoel
Grant NOK 400,000 (Approx. € 47,300)
SAMUI SONGDirector/script Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Thailand
Main producer Bluering Company Limited
Norwegian co-prod Tenk.tv / by F. Søbstad
Grant NOK 400,000 (Approx. € 47,300)
I HATE MY LIFEDirector/script Kaouther Ben Hania, Tunisia
Main producer Cinetelefilms
Norwegian co-prod Integralfilm AS/ by J. and N. Özkal Lorentzen
Grant NOK 500,000 (Approx. € 59,200)
SELLING HUMANSDirector/script Pankaj Johar, India
Main producer Pennywise Films PVT LTD
Norwegian Lightsource Film Productions AS / by A. Dahr
Grant NOK 300,000 (Approx. € 35,500)
THE UNTAMEDDirector/script Amat Escalante / A. E. and Gibran Portela, Mexico
Main producer Mantarraya Producciones SA de CV
Norwegian co-prod MER Film As / by M. Ekerhovd
Grant NOK 500,000 (Approx. € 59,200)
SØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUNDSØRFOND – NORWEGIAN SOUTH FILM FUND 2726
THE UNTAMED
MEXICAN HORROR SUPPORTED BY SØRFOND WINS THE SILVER LION AT VENICE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
The Untamed, Amat Escalante, Mexico 2016
THE PROJECTS SUPPORTED BY SØRFOND IN 2012-14
CEMETERY OF SPLENDOURDirector/script Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand
Main producer Kick the Machine
Norwegian co-prod Tordenfilm / E. Vogel and I. Sundelin
The project received NOK 400,000 (Approx. € 50,000)
LAMBDirector/script Yared Zeleke, Etiophia
Main producer Slum Kid Films
Norwegian co-prod Film Farms / by A. R. Milligan
The project received NOK 450,000 (Approx. € 56,000)
GITI – PARADISE IN HELLDirector/script Niyongabo Yves Montand, Rwanda
Main producer Almond Tree Films Rwanda ltd
Norwegian Barentsfilm as / I. Lill Høgtun
The project received NOK 300,000 (Approx. € 37,000)
MURDER IN PACOTDirector/script Raoul Peck / L. Trouillot, P. Bonitzer and R. Peck, Haiti
Main producer Velvet Film
Norwegian co-prod Ape&Bjørn / R. Thorkildsen
The project received NOK 425,000 (Approx. € 53,000)
LOS HEREDEROS (THE HEIRS) (FEATURE)Director Jorge Hernandez Aldana, Mexico
Norwegian co-prod Tordenfilm / Eric Vogel
The project received NOK 850,000 in grants (Approx. € 105,500)
FLAPPING IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE (FEATURE)Director Diep Nguyen Hoang, Vietnam
Norwegian co-prod Film Farms / Alan R. Milligan
The project received NOK 850,000 in grants (Approx. € 105,500)
ALGIERS BY NIGHT (FEATURE)Director Yanis Koussim, Algerie
Norwegian co-prod Pomor Film As / Knut Skoglund
The project received NOK 450,000 in grants (Approx. € 60,000)
A MAID FOR EACH (DOCUMENTARY)Director Maher Abi Samra, Lebanon
Norwegian co-prod Medieoperatørene TV / Ida Ven Bruusgaard
The project received NOK 450,000 in grants (Approx. € 60,000)
THE PAST WILL RETURN (DOCUMENTARY)Director Dina Hamza, Egypt
Norwegian co-prod Medieoperatørene TV/ Ida Ven Bruusgaard
The project received NOK 250,000 in grants (Approx. € 33,000)
THE CHOSEN ONES (DOCUMENTARY)Director Arman Yeritsyan, Armenia
Norwegian co-prod tenk.tv / Frode Søbstad
The project received NOK 150,000 in grants (Approx. € 20,000)
CHAR – THE ISLAND WITHIN (DOCUMENTARY)Director Sourav Sarang, India
Norwegian co-prod Cinema Oslo v/Jon Jerstad
The project received NOK 200,000 in grants (Approx. € 26,500)
DESHORA (FEATURE)Director Barbara Sarasola-Day, Argentina
Norwegian co-prod Faction Film v/Dag Hoel
The project received NOK 679,000 in grants (Approx. € 90,000)
KANDIRE – LAND WITHOUT EVIL (FEATURE)Director Juan Carlos Valdivia, Bolivia
Norwegian co-prod PJB Picture Company v/Petter Borgli
The project received NOK 750,000 in grants (Approx. € 100,000)
DUKHTAR (FEATURE)Director Afia Nathaniel, Pakistan
Norwegian co-prod Indie Film v/Carsten Aanonsen
The project received NOK 750,000 in grants (Approx. € 100,000)
PALESTINE STEREO (FEATURE)Director Rashid Masharawi, Palestine
Norwegian co-prod Ape&Bjørn v/S. E. Johnson and R. Thorkildsen
The project received NOK 750,000 in grants (Approx. € 100,000)
WAKOLDA (FEATURE)Director Lucía Puenzo, Argentina
Norwegian co-prod Hummelfilm v/Gudny Hummelvoll
The project received NOK 750,000 in grants (Approx. € 100,000)
WHEN HARRI GOT MARRIED (DOCUMENTARY)Director Ritu Sarin, India
Norwegian co-prod Cinema Oslo v/Jon Jerstad
The project received NOK 121,000 in grants (Approx. € 16,000)
GITI – PARADISE IN HELLDirector/script Niyongabo Yves Montand, Rwanda
Main producer Almond Tree Films Rwanda ltd
Norwegian Barentsfilm as / I. Lill Høgtun
Grant NOK 300,000 (Approx. € 37,000)
MURDER IN PACOTDirector/script Raoul Peck / L. Trouillot, P. Bonitzer and R. Peck, Haiti
Main producer Velvet Film
Norwegian co-prod Ape&Bjørn / R. Thorkildsen
Grant NOK 425,000 (Approx. € 53,000)
“Reality has somehow already overtaken fiction, so I had to look for answers elsewhere” was the first words of Mexican director Amat Escalante at the press conference following his premiere of The Untamed, at the 73rd Venice Film Festival. The premiere left both audience and critics astonished and fascinated by Escalante’s blend of realism and starkness with elements from fantasy and horror, and the film went on to earn Escalante the Silver Lion Award for best director at the festival.
The Untamed received support from SØRFOND in 2015 and was co-produced by Maria Ekerhovd at Mer Film.
- For us at Mer Film it has been incredibly inspiring to get the opportunity to co-operate with one of the world’s most talented direc-tors. We are grateful for the support from Sørfond that makes such
a co-operation possible and contributes to realize a film project that already is making its mark on the international film scene.
We are incredibly happy for the prize in Venice and are very much looking forward to show the film to the audience in Norway! Says Maria Ekerhovd, producer at Mer Film.
You can watch The Untamed along with other SØRFOND supported films during the Films from the South Festival – for an overview of the SØRFOND supported films in this year’s festival program see page 35 in our Festival magazine, or visit www.filmfrasor.no
NEXT DEADLINE FOR SØRFOND PRODUCTION SUPPORT:
BEGINNING OF MARCH 2017
www.sorfond.com