13 Summers Under Water
13 Summers Under Water

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Working version of the film will be presented.

Film synopsis

Seven people wander through memory and dream looking for the ones they loved but lost. Between the dreamscape and landscape, the dead and alive are finally allowed to communicate, because they can feel and hear each other. A journey to the afterlife.

Director’s filmography

Wiktoria Szymańska is a writer/director with background of a painter and visual artist. She was born in Poland, grew up in UK, studied in France, and now works between Poland, France, Mexico and Tanzania. Her film Themerson and Themerson (83', 2011) has been celebrated around the world as one of the best documentary about art. Her The Man Who Made Angels Fly (63', 2013) won IDFA Industry Award and premiered at Karlovy Vary and Hot Docs.  Wiktoria also made shorts and video installations about dance and female bodies. Her last film, short 7 Sheep had it‘s world premiere at Toronto IFF 2015.

Producer’s filmography

Based in London, we at Luna W are keen to work with international co-producers to produce films of high quality: fiction, documentaries, and experimental; films that relate to universal human experience and appeal to viewers from various cultural backgrounds. Luna W acts as an advisory body to Polish and British filmmakers wishing to form co-productions. Since 2012, Luna W films opened its outlet in Gdynia. Wiktoria Szymanska is the CEO of the company and Luna W acts as a producer of all her films.

Producer’s statement

I have spent a long time in researching what afterlife means and how to visual it in cinematic form, listening to my characters and living among the departures of people that I felt close to.

The desire to find out how we can stay connected with people we love after death became my personal quest.

I realized that only through emotional visualization we could unlock the door to feel rather than to think what happens when we die. I tried to create a language that allows access to move between the two worlds: dreamscape and landscape, and thus to enable dead and alive to communicate.

13 Summer Under Water is a cinematic essay dedicated to anyone who ever dream to return and to be with the returning.

Contact / Presenters

Wiktoria Szymańska | Film Director
Email: [email protected]

Joanna Solecka | Film Producer
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +48 501 102 878

Izabela Igel | Film Producer
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +48 501 338 454

Death Over Gold
Smrt nad zlato

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Film synopsis

Ondrej Jajcaj has been obsessed with death since childhood. Starting as a tomb raider, he became self proclaimed scientist/philosopher, focused on the dental remnants of the dead.

Jajcaj’s goal is to liberate society from fearing death. To accomplish this, Jajcaj and his few folloers set on a journey with his mobile caravan of death, moving from village to village and confronting people with the phenomenon of death.

The journey destination is Vienna, where Jajcaj wants to return the dental remnants of Johann Strauss and Johannes Brahms. The remnants, which he took from their graves himself. Majorettes juggle with femur bones and Jajcaj’s caravan moves to another village. The journey doesn’t end, but loops into infinity.

Director’s filmography

Petr Šprincl is a visual artist, whose works often blend fiction and reality, synthesizing and reinterpreting both, resulting in twisted visions and metaworlds.

Petr’s film Čapatý Ján about folklore and mythology was awarded at the 13th AFO Olomouc in 2013 and screened at multiple festivals. In New York, Petr made a found-footage dystopic short Blue Box, (Jihlava IFDF and Febiofest Bratislava in 2015), which is being developed into a miniseries.

Petr exploits the traditions and myths of his Moravian region in the lyrical zombie-essay film Morava, What A Beautiful Land, selected for IDFF Jihlava 2015, with a sequel now in postproduction and a third installment on the way. He is now preparing the feature Death Over Gold, an experimental odyssey about dental prosthetics, death and classical music.

Producer’s filmography

Marek Novák studied law and later film production at Prague’s FAMU. He co-founded Xova Film company in 2014 and since then has been dedicated to producing content from upcoming authors, both fiction and documentary. Xova Film started with producing Far From Maidan a documentary on Ukraine’s crisis and developing documentary Circus Rwanda. Marek is developing fiction debut Erhart by Jan Březina and is co-writing The Camp, a post-apocalypse story from a summer scout camp. The experimental Death Over Gold production has just started and for 2016, Marek also prepares a documentary on alcoholism by Jan Látal and a transgender-themed short by Cristina Grosan. Marek attended numerous workshops (EAVE FMW, B’EST, ifs international producing, Ex Oriente, MIDPOINT, etc.) and co-production markets (Cinelink, Baltic Event, NexT).

Producer’s statement

Death Over Gold is a blend of stylised documentary and fiction, an experiment in directing, producing and distributing, the project is challenging and controversial in its subject matter, playful and twisting in the form and a fertile ground for a tailored meta-distribution. We want to combine the energy of these elements and propell it at the audience in a wave of bizarrenes, morbid humanity  entertainment and 8-bit classical music.

The film got support from the Czech Film Fund and is still missing 30% from the total budget of 85,000 EUR, covered by deferrals and own investment. A crowdfunding campaign is planned for summer.

The film will be finished in early 2017 and shown in the film’s countryside, using the caravan as a cinema on wheels, a music stage and a bar. We will then release in domestic theaters, online and aim for international festivals and distribution.

Contact / Presenters

Marek Novák | Film Producer
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +420 607 240 966

Petr Šprincl | Film Director
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +420 606 567 909

FREM
FREM

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Working version of the film will be presented.

Film synopsis

FREM is an epitaph for the vanishing species of Homo sapiens. Šimon used to develop artificial intelligence but flees to the other side of the world to pick up kiwi fruit and save his sanity. Malwina, who longs for a perfect child, is fertilized by the “spirit of science” at a sperm bank. And Tibor, a potential priest, tries to restore his lost touch with God in the Antarctic wasteland. It all happens during Christmas time when the Son of God becomes man in the Christian tradition. Exploring the limits of the possible, the film tests the limits of the film material as well, combining found footage and YouTube videos, reenactment and documentary, nonlinear narration and visual archetypes.

Director’s filmography

Viera Čákanyová (b. 1980) is one of the most remarkable directors of her generation. Together with L. Kokeš, K. Tasovská and P. Hátle, with whom she made the exceptional Gottland project, she ranks among internationally renowned emerging filmmakers. Her work is characterized by merging documentary and fiction and by a strongly contemporary film language. Already her school films were awarded at local and international film festivals, including those in Nyon, Kassel and Krakow. Her bachelor film Alda (2009) won an award for the best debut at Visions du Réel (Regard Neuf, 2010). Her next documentary Olda (2011) was included in the Doc Alliance Selection. FREM (in production) is her debut.

Producer’s filmography

Hypermarket Film is one of the leading production companies in Central and Eastern Europe, founded in 2003 by two creative producers and documentarians Vít Klusák and Filip Remunda.  International reputation: first feature documentary Czech Dream (cinema release in 12 countries incl. USA and UK). We collaboratate with award-winning directors such as V. Mansky (The Pipeline – the Best Documentary Film at the Karlovy vary IFF, Under the Sun – best documentary at JIHLAVA IDFF) and P. Kerekes (Velvet Terrorists – Berlinale 2014 (Tagesspiegel Readers' Prize). Producer N. Numankadic has worked for ten years as Managing Director of Doc Alliance association, studied Film production at Prague FAMU.

Producer’s statement

FREM is a very challenging project since it is nowadays hard to finance cross-genre films as they are difficult to categorise under the current grant calls and lack a traditional linear narration form. I chose to work on this film as it addresses the essential issue of what it means to be a human at a time when everything is possible, using a method combining various film techniques and materials. Status: in production, the total budget amounts to 150,000 euro, film is Czech-Slovak co-production. The whole budget reflects the director’s method drawing on the director’s long-term observations in selected locations (New Zealand, Antarctica), according only having a one-member crew. 

Contact / Presenters

Nina Numankadič | Film Producer
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +420 606 613 058

Viera Čákanyová | Film Director
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +421 904 348 536

Flickering Ghosts of Loves Gone By
Et j’aime à la fureur

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Working version of the film will be presented.

Film synopsis

A movie made exclusively with excerpts of films from anonymous filmmakers, Et j’aime à la fureur tells the story of the descendants of Maurice Expedit, an eccentric inventor and industrial big shot. Expedit loved cinema and had a great affection for women. He was a pussy lover. His life was one long sequence of affairs with countless mistresses and illegitimate children. As by magic, his love for cinema, for sex, or both, was passed on them. I am a descendant of Maurice Expedit, this film is also the story of my life. With images shot with love and desire, full of sheer beauty and cinematic invention, it is a love letter to filmmaking, an elegy to women pubic hair and to midget circus clowns. 

Director’s filmography

French director André Bonzel made his first documentary at age 18 and sold it to French TV. He learned camera and directing by being an assistant and shot many short films. At INSAS, the Belgian film school, he met Remy Belvaux and Benoît Poelvoorde, with whom he co-authored the cult film C’est arrivé près de chez vous (Man Bites Dog) winner of Semaine de la critique and many international prizes, including in Toronto, Sitges and others. He also works as a DOP. He has directed for the Fondation cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris and has shot numerous documentaries for "The Criterion Collection," New York. He wrote and co-wrote several screenplays for fiction films and TV mini-series.

Producer’s filmography

Juraj Krasnohorsky from Slovakia and André Bonzel from France collaborate since 2006. After forming a scriptwriting duo, a director-DOP collaboration, now they teamed up to produce André’s new film as a Slovak-French co-production. Before debuting in cinema, Juraj lived for 14 years in Geneva, Bilbao and Paris. He speaks seven languages. He studied Science (mathematical physics), worked for CERN as a physicist and lectured acting classes at the prestigious Cours Florent in Paris. His company Artichoke produced his directorial debut Tigers in the City, with André Bonzel as DOP. Artichoke’s latest co-production, Superbia by Luca Tóth, premiered at Semaine de la critique in Cannes this year.

Producer’s statement

First appearance on international platform. After years of collecting material, now in editing. Story takes shape on the go, due to the peculiarities of the working process. Supported by the Slovak Audiovisual Fund. Slovak Film Institute as partner. Total budget under 500,000 euro. We plan to close financing by end of 2016, including French and possibly Belgian co-producer. Looking for sales and festival premiere in 2017. Aiming to distribute from the French-speaking territories towards international. The film is a love letter to cinema. Director tells a personal story through images made by anonymous filmmakers with a unique historical and cinematic value – a yet undiscovered treasure. 

Contact / Presenters

Juraj Krasnohorský | Film Producer
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +421 904 185 692

André Bonzel | Film Director, Scriptwriter
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +33 6 89 84 20 89

In Praise of Nothing
My Nothing Is Bigger Than Yours

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Film synopsis

In Praise of Nothing is a documentary about Nothing – a feelgood documentary parable in which Nothing, not knowing what we know but knowing what we don’t know, addresses us for the first and last time.

Nothing’s unique point of view will be shown through a first-person narration, very simple but inspired by thousands of pages of a most eclectic bibliography, as well as by intriguing 'documentary shots of Nothing', filmed by dozens of cinematographers from around the world, superstars and beginners alike, collaborating in a custom-made anonymous online brainstorming process. Suspension of disbelief guaranteed.

Director’s filmography

Boris Mitic​ (b. 1977, Leskovac, southern Serbia) lived on a few continents, settled back in Belgrade, worked for 5 years for top-level international media, understood some things and dedicated the rest of his life to creative parenting, creative football and creative documentaries. His three films were shown at 150+ festivals around the world, received 18 awards and were broadcasted on 25 international TV channels. Boris plays blitz chess, writes satirical columns, lectures worldwide on atypical documentary filmmaking and fine-tunes his documentary about Nothing.

Producer’s statement

Currently, we are in early production stage: research finalized, cinematographers mobilized, script written, visual brainstorming well under way.

Due to the unusually high number of crew members & nationalities, there are no classic bi/tri-lateral co-producers involved, as we have chosen instead to finance the film through pre-sales, MGs and geographically unrestricted funds, while keeping shooting costs frugal and scalable to contribution.

The project is supported by record domestic funding in Serbia, 10 European broadcasters, the IDFA Bertha Fund and the Geneva Center for Contemporary Art.

Looking for A-festival interest, distribution in available territories and unconditional gap funding.

Contact / Presenters

Boris Mitic | Film Director, Film Producer
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +381 637 715 241

Letters to Paul Morrissey
Letters to Paul Morrissey

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Working version of the film will be presented.

Film synopsis

Three stories meet to honor the New Yorker filmmaker Paul Morrissey. Three main characters are confessing their problems, concerns and intimacy to Paul. The leads are from different nationalities, sharing the same existential problems of the characters from Morrissey’s own films. The feature film is composed of shortpieces called film letters.

Director’s filmography

Armand Rovira’s first work is the found-footage Das Schützenfest (1998). The following year he directed El bufón de Belzebú, that was selected in the Festival of Sitges. La purificación excremental (2002), an experimental 35 mm short film, took him back to festivals in the country and he achieve a position into the official section of the Festival of Sitges in 2004. The short film shot on 35 mm ¿Qué será de baby Grace? (2009) is a film starring Álex Angulo where he mixed found-footage and fiction to tell the first visit of the actress Grace Kelly to Mallorca. With this film, he began a tour of 53 festivals, some of them international.

Producer’s filmography

In 2010 Jorge Vidal creates his own producer company From Outer Space with two partners taking part in documentaries, advertising and music videos: El pescao, Nothink, Gusttavo Lima, Noiseast; and shortfilms like Mallorca Souvenir by Luis Ortas, Monstruos by Ferran Bex and Chat vol dir moix by Jaume Carrió.
Specialized in the field of production in 2011. He is the producer of the documentaries Mes que un barri (co-producer with Cinética Produccions), and Vaixells de paper (Best documentary in Maremostra Mallorca Festival, 2013)
He collaborates in the creation and production of channels video-musical webs like Big Island and Sabotage.

Producer’s statement

Currently, the film is in production phase, a 70% of the film is shot, (part of this in postproduction and finally edited). Still for shooting a 30%. The total budget is 127,000 euro. We need 58,000 euro to finish the film. Goals:  International visibility, release and distribution.We are looking for distribution at this moment.  We want to create a film tribute to Paul Morrissey and Andy Warhol, making an homage between them and the photochemichal, combining different stories, characters and dialogue that transport the viewer into the Morrissey universe through the memory and reinterpretation of the director.

Contact / Presenters

Armand Rovira | Film Director
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: + 34 670 522 670

Jorge Vidal | Film Producer
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: + 34 600 582 732

Saida Benzal | Scriptwriter
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: + 34 657 080 567

Lying Carpet
Lažljivi tepih

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Working version of the film will be presented.

Film synopsis

“The truth is what my mom says.”
Lying Carpet is a docu-fiction. It is set in a universe of children’s games, playing with subjects of lie and belief. A story follows a group of children that live in an old little village called Beli, located in the heart of Tramuntana virgin forest of Croatian island Cres. In Beli’s church there is an ancient miraculous statue of the Black Madonna. The statue is worshiped by local women, praying that there will always be children on the island. And then one day, the statue disappears from the church, and things that nobody would have ever expected begin to happen. Kids have to use their power of lies and the magic potion to restore the order.

Director’s filmography

Željka Sukova (b. 1977, Rijeka, Croatia)

Filmography:

• 2012 – Zimsko čudo / Winter Miracle, co-dir. Gustavo Beck, produced by: Udruga UKUS, If You Hold a Stone; Awards: 2013 – 17th Jihlava IDFF, Czech Republic, Best European documentary
• 2011 – Marijine / Marija’s Own, produced by: Udruga UKUS; Awards: Fedeora IFF Karlovy Vary Czech Republic, Grand Prix IFF Underhill Montenegro, Liburnija FF – special acknowledgment

Aleš Suk (b. 1977, Vrchlabí, Czech Republic)

Filmography:

• 2012 – Zimsko čudo / Winter Miracle, co-camera, co-montage, dir. Željka Suková, Gustavo Beck, produced by: Udruga UKUS, If You Hold a Stone
• 2011 – Marijine / Marija’s Own, camera, montage,produced by: Udruga UKUS

Producer’s filmography

Films:

• Velvet Terrorists (2013) is a story of three romantic heroes, who had a go at armed resistance against the communist power in Czechoslovakia.
  
• Cooking History (2009) is a documentary film about army cooks and how the everyday needs of thousands of armed stomachs affect the victories and defeats of statesmen. It was produced for five years in eleven different European countries.
• 66 Seasons (2003) is a documentary film about the Košice swimming pool where history came to bathe. Seen through several stories which unfolded between the years 1936 and 2002, the film captures 66 seasons at the popular swimming pool, and the same number of years in the history of Central and Eastern Europe.

Producer’s statement

First of all, I like the style of filmmaking of Zeljka and Ales, I think, that this way of storytelling, based on visual, magic and humor is a very rare in the documentary film production of nowadays.

The story combines a perfect mixture of very unique local motives and universal themes, as childhood, dreams, child perspective to the world. As a very calculative producer, it is a good selling topic for the international markets.

Actually, we received the development funding from Media, HAVC (Croatian film fund) and Zaklada Kultura Nova (Croatian cultural fund). We are starting the first part of the filming at the end of summer. Lying Carpet is a Croatian-Czech-Slovak co-production.

Contact / Presenters

Željka Suková | Film Director
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +385 99 2467 272

Aleš Suk | Film Director
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +385 99 8111 811

Peter Kerekes | Film Producer
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +421 905 255 698

Perseverance
Vztrajanje

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Working version of the film will be presented.

Film synopsis

Perseverance consists of 20 stories inspired by true events and characters that span the world and last 60 years. They are not formally connected, their narratives are separate but create a larger one. The stories cover the period from the past to the present day and are located around the world. Perseverance is a poetic travel through the collective memory of mankind and it tries to answer the questions of who we are, where we do come from and where are we going Through intimate stories, the film describes the phenomenon of the human being, of the human race.

Director’s filmography

Miha Knific (b. 1976, Kranj, Slovenia) graduated in sculpturing at Ljubljana Academy for Fine Arts (1995–2000). He has directed a number of short films, directed adverts for major international clients (more than 50 TV commercials in last 6 years) and multiple music videos. Miha focuses primarily on human stories and in his movies researches extreme situations and their outcomes, with a particular interest in the concept of freedom that these situations create. He deals with worlds that fatally change an individual, his own relationship towards the world and the world itself. 

Producer’s filmography

Siniša Juričić holds a degree in Acting (1990) as well as a degree in Film Production (2009) from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. Sinisa's focus is on producing films and helping talented filmmakers from the EEC to achieve their full international potential. His recent works include co-producing The Chicken (dir. Una Gunjak, received the European Film Award in 2014), Full Contact (dir. David Verbeek, premiered at Toronto IFF 2015) and Interruption (dir. Yorgos Zois, premiered at Venice Film Festival 2015) among others. He attended workshops such as Inside Pictures (2015), EAVE+ (2014), Torino AdaptLab (2014), EURODOC (2009) and EAVE (2007) and many more.

Producer’s statement

Feature fiction film Perseverance is currently in the final postproduction phase after having an ongoing production for a couple of years. The film has a great distribution potential because most of it is filmed in English language while the storytelling itself is quite universal and undertandable to a wide audience – each story is unique, yet adaptable to any part of the world. The budget is nearly completely found but there is still the gap of the 50,000 euro that is needed for completing the film and for placing it on the international market.
Moreover, we do not have the World Sales at this moment and this also something we’re looking for.

Contact / Presenters

Miha Knific | Film Director
Email: [email protected]

Siniša Juričić | Film Producer
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +385 91 502 1871

Matija Drniković | Junior Producer
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +385 955 497 491

Waiting
Čakanie

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Film synopsis

Ivan has just turned 60. Shorty after he learns that he is dying. His life in a village, clinging to property, his painter job, boring relationship with his wife and the feeling of emptiness come into confrontation with mortality. The sudden banality of life forces him, his wife, and their two adult children to existential questions and searching for authentic feelings. This intimate story about the rediscovery of joy, love and freedom unfolds against the backdrop of an everyday reality where the health-care system is dysfunctional, relations are cold, and spiritual sensibility is all lost.

Contact / Presenters

Zuzana Liová | Film Director, Scriptwriter
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +421 905 626 243

Barbara Janišová Feglová | Film Producer
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +421 905 858 808

Jan Macola | Co-Producer
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +420 724 938 883