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In a panel held during the Caf program at Bishkek International Film Festival, five producers

In a candid and insightful discussion at a recent film industry event, independent producers from Europe and Asia shared their experiences, challenges, and advice on navigating the complex world of international co-productions and independent filmmaking. The panel, featuring producers from Italy, Japan, Serbia, Israel, and Germany, provided valuable perspectives on funding, collaboration, and the importance of staying true to one’s creative vision.

The Struggles and Rewards of Independent Production

Flaminio Zadra, an Italian producer with over 20 years of experience, opened the discussion by reflecting on the evolving landscape of European independent cinema. “Producing independent films is becoming harder and harder,” he noted, emphasizing the financial challenges of micro-budget projects versus larger co-productions with extensive funding structures. Having worked in both Germany and Italy, he highlighted the importance of perseverance in an industry where financing remains a constant hurdle.

Mehdi M. Barsaoui’s “Aïcha” has been acquired by several distributors ahead of its world premiere in the Horizons section of the Venice Film Festival. The Party Film Sales is handling international sales. Variety debuts its trailer here.

Distributors attached include Cineart for Benelux, La Aventura Audiovisual for Spain, Discovery for former Yugoslavia, Jour2fête for France, I Wonder for Italy and Hakka Distribution for Tunisia. Cinewaves has taken theatrical rights for Middle East and North Africa, and Sunnyland Film, a member of A.R.T. Group, has taken digital sales rights for Middle East and North Africa.

The film follows Aya, who is in her late twenties. She feels trapped in her life with her parents in southern Tunisia, seeing no prospects for change. One day, the minivan she commutes in daily between her town and the hotel where she works crashes, leaving her as the sole survivor. Realizing this could be...

The UK’s National Film and Television School (Nfts) has selected 20 executives for the 2024 edition of Inside Pictures, the film and television business training and development programme.

Participants include Swedish producer Erik Hemmendorff, who has made all of Ruben Ostlund’s feature films including Palme d’Or winners The Square and Triangle Of Sadness, through the duo’s Plattform Produktion.

Scroll down for the full list of participants

Also selected are Alex Gardener-Smith, head of commercial planning at Lionsgate UK; Charlotte Lopez, VP international sales at Studiocanal; and David Swetman, SVP content and commercial strategy at All3Media International.

Inside Pictures...

Dublin-based company is a prolific Irish partner on international co-productions.

Irish production outfit and prolific international partner Wild Atlantic Pictures has appointed two ex-Screen Ireland executives to its fast-growing team.

Teresa McGrane, formerly deputy CEO at Screen Ireland, joins as chief operating office, and Dearbhla Regan, who was project manager at Screen Ireland until 2022 is the new head of film and talent development.

McGrane spent two decades at Screen Ireland where she played a key role in the development of policies and initiatives since 2001.

Regan most recently executive-produced Irish language Oscar nominee and box office success The Quiet Girl.

Mexican director Carlos Eichelmann Kaiser’s debut feature Red Shoes premiered in Venice’s Horizons Extra section.

Mexican director Carlos Eichelmann Kaiser’s debut feature Red Shoes won three awards at this year’s Sofia International Film Festival (March 16-31), taking home the international competition’s main prize - the Sofia City of Film Award - as well as the Fipresci prize and young jury award.

Red Shoes premiered in Venice’s Horizons Extra section and is being handled internationally by 102 Distribution.

The international jury headed by North Macedonian filmmaker Milcho Manchevski gave its special jury award to Bekir Bülbül...

The trailer has debuted for Jessica Woodworth’s sci-fi epic “Luka,” which has its world premiere in the Big Screen Competition at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Films Boutique is handling international sales.

The film is Woodworth’s take on Dino Buzzati’s “The Tartar Steppe,” in which she crafts a fantasy of post-truth lunacy. Geraldine Chaplin plays the twisted General in a drama tinged with the conjured terrors of George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” and the rapturous brotherly love of Jean Genet’s “Un chant d’amour.”

In the film, Luka, a young and ambitious soldier, embeds himself in Fort Kairos where heroic warriors defend the remains of civilization. His hopes to serve as an elite sniper are crushed when he is assigned to maintenance and must submit to the code of Kairos: obedience, endurance and sacrifice. As he rises through the ranks, Luka finds joy and strength in friendships with Konstantin,...

The Story of My Wife

Produced by Monika Mécs, András Muhi, Erno Mésterhazy, Maren Ade, Jonas Dornbach, Janine Jackowski, Flaminio Zadra and Pilar Saavedra Perrotta.

Directed by Ildikó Enyedi

Written by Ildikó Enyedi

Starring: Léa Seydoux, Gijs Naber, Louis Garrel, Josef Hader, Jasmine Trinca

Cinematographer: Marcell Rév

Release Date/Prediction: The Berlinale certainly feels like the right place to premiere.

…...

Best Berlin nightmare story?

I was at U-Bahn Schönhauser Allee. A guy stopped me and sold me an apparently unused daily ticket for the metro. I bought it in good faith, but obviously he fooled me. After less than five minutes, a U-Bahn controller asked for my ticket and fined me.

Your best "lost in translation" moment?

Every time I take a taxi. "I have to go to Müller Strasse!" "Was?!?" "Müller Strasse!" "Wo?" Then I write down the name of the street and show it to the driver, who says: "Haha ...

The Story of My Wife

Produced by Monika Mécs, András Muhi, Erno Mésterhazy, Maren Ade, Jonas Dornbach, Janine Jackowski, Flaminio Zadra and Pilar Saavedra Perrotta.

Directed by Ildikó Enyedi

Written by Ildikó Enyedi

Starring: Léa Seydoux, Gijs Naber, Louis Garrel, Josef Hader, Jasmine Trinca

Cinematographer: Marcell Rév

Release Date/Prediction: 2020 Cannes Film Festival – Main Competition.

…...

When East Meets West (Wemw) co-production forum received record number of submissions.

New films by Daniel Ribeiro (The Way He Looks), Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov (The Lesson) and Tudor Giurgiu (Of Snails And Men) are among 22 development projects - 12 fiction feature films and 10 documentaries - which will be presented at the sixth edition of Trieste’s When East Meets West (Wemw) co-production forum (Jan 24-26).

According to Wemw’s organisers, a record 301 projects were submitted by producers to participate in the event which will be attracting 150 international decision-makers including representatives from Wild Bunch, Fandango, Latido Films, Zdf/Arte, Loco Films, New Europe Film Sales, Eurimages and East West Film Distribution.

A total of 18 countries are represented in the 2016 line-up of projects ranging from Turkey and Lithuania through Serbia and Poland to Romania and Italy as well as the ‘guest countries’ of Spain, Portugal, and Latin America.

Giurgiu will be in Trieste with producer Bogdan Craciun to look...

When East Meets West (Wemw) co-production forum to host record number of projects.

New films by Daniel Ribeiro (The Way He Looks), Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov (The Lesson) and Tudor Giurgiu (Of Snails And Men) are among 22 development projects - 12 fiction feature films and 10 documentaries - which will be presented at the sixth edition of Trieste’s When East Meets West (Wemw) co-production forum (Jan 24-26).

According to Wemw’s organisers, a record 301 projects were submitted by producers to participate in the event which will be attracting 150 international decision-makers including representatives from Wild Bunch, Fandango, Latido Films, Zdf/Arte, Loco Films, New Europe Film Sales, Eurimages and East West Film Distribution.

A total of 18 countries are represented in the 2016 line-up of projects ranging from Turkey and Lithuania through Serbia and Poland to Romania and Italy as well as the ‘guest countries’ of Spain, Portugal, and Latin America.

Giurgiu will be in Trieste with producer Bogdan Craciun to look...

Berlin-based sales outfit M-Appeal has swooped to add Venice Biennale College title Blanka to its autumn market slate.

Blanka received its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival (Sept 2-12) on Saturday (Sept 5).

The feature is an Italian production shot in the Philippines by Japanese director Kohki Hasei, and produced by Flaminio Zadra from Italy.

The story follows 11-year-old Blanka, who survives alone in Manila, begging and stealing from tourists. One day, an absurd idea pops up: if she could buy a mother, she could have a good life. But she has to make countless efforts in order to collect enough money.

An opportunity arises when she meets Peter, a 55-year-old blind street musician, who teaches Blanka how to sing, a skill out of which she can make money.

Blanka was was produced within the Biennale College programme, an advanced training workshop for the development and production of micro-budget (€150,000) audio-visual works.

It also received...

Up to three low-budget features will be greenlit from the 12 selections.

La Biennale di Venezia has unveiled the 12 projects selected for the third round of the Biennale College - Cinema programme.

They attended the first workshop in Venice from Oct 4-13. Further workshops will be held in December and January, and up to three of the features will be greenlit to screen at the Venice International Film Festival in 2015.

The College has backed previous low-budget features including Memphis, Short Skin and Blood Cells.

The group of participants hail from Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, France,, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Sri Lanka, the Us and the UK.

The selections, with information provided by the Biennale, are:

Baby Bump – Kuba Czekaj (director, Poland), Madgadalena Kaminska (producer, Poland): a story centred on the fear of puberty and the sexual transformation of an eleven-year-old. As his body changes, a dark and fantastic world begins to take hold of his life...