22/10/2024 - We take a closer look at the 14 projects locking horns for the 34th Development Grant at the Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival

Director Lotfi Achour, who has been selected with his project The Woman Sitting in the Corridor (© Myriam Chabbi)

Today marks the start of the Cinemed Meetings, entailing three days of professional meetings unspooling as an integral part of the 46th Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival (see the article and the interview with Christophe Leparc). Standing out among the proceedings is the 34th edition of the Development Grant, with 14 fiction-feature projects selected. These will be presented by their directors and producers to a jury made up of Catherine Bizern (Céci Moulin d’Andé), producers Marianne Dumoulin (JBA Production) and Dominique Welinski (DW and head of La Factory), and their colleague Thomas Pibarot (formerly of Le Pacte).

Two Development Grants will be handed out (courtesy of the CNC and the Occitania region, and incorporating technical contributions from Titra Films, French Kiss Studio and Saraband), as well as writing residencies (at the Céci Moulin d’Andé and La Fabbrica Culturale Casell’arte) and an invitation to the market at the Marseille Music & Cinema Festival. As a reminder, in recent years, films such as Aïcha [+see also:
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interview: George Sikharulidze
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interview: Carla Simón
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interview: Adila Bendimerad, Damien Ou…
interview: Damien Ounouri
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interview: Cristèle Alves Meira
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It’s worth noting that the Cinemed Meetings also include the third edition of the Cinemed & Aflamuna programmes (an assortment of ten projects in development hailing from the Arab world), the tenth iteration of the "Du court au long" (lit. “From Short to Long”) initiative (four feature-debut projects offered up by filmmakers who have a short film in competition at this year’s Montpellier Festival, which will be weighed up by a jury, with three writing residencies up for grabs), co-production meetings involving all of the individual rendezvous between project holders and the professionals present in Montpellier, projects from the Gindou Cinéma and Cinéstoria residencies (Châtaignes Boost Camp and Promeneurs), pitches from the Occitania region workshop, professional meetings (notably some involving Dominique Cabrera), and the "Talents en court" (lit. “Short-format Talents”) strand.

The selected projects are as follows:

Amara - Michelle Keserwany (Denmark/France/Lebanon/Jordan)
Production: Tine Mikkelsen for Zentropa
Co-production: Tanit Films, Barr, CMS
Darine, a dynamic horoscope presenter on the radio, must replace the news anchor who has suddenly been fired owing to the financial crisis, forcing her to break out of her fictional bubble and face the harsh reality caused by her words.

Bab El Sahra - Salem Brahimi (France/Algeria)
Production: Alexandre Gavras for KG Productions
A gendarme's brother returns to his hometown in the Algerian desert and triggers deadly events at a nearby mine, placing his brother in a dilemma between family and homeland.

Bella - Mohcine Besri (Morocco)
Production: Lamia Chraibi and Aymane Hammou for La Prod
Lalla Aicha, a seventy-something widow, falls in love with Si Ahmed, upsetting those around her. Torn between convention and desire, she confronts her son Youssef's judgement of this belated romance. Her daughter Nora watches in surprise as this once-distant mother opens up to love, in contrast to her own romantic failures. Bella explores the tensions between tradition and late-life passion with humour and bittersweetness.

Cellule familiale - Clara Petazzoni (France)
The climate crisis. Divorce. Eight-year-old Max has the power to draw water up from the ground and access adult memories. She wants to save her village from a water shortage and her father from depression. In the end, neither the volcano where the children live alone nor her power will restore Max to her carefree self. It's her friendship with L'Enfant, with whom she discovers the ocean, that saves her.

Intra montes - Alberto Diana (Italy/France)
Production: Manuela Buono for Slingshot Films
Co-production: Caroline Piras for Lilith Films
Sardinia, the 1930s. After witnessing the murder of his elder brother Agostino by the fascist Blackshirts, young Angelo leaves his village and joins the navy together with his charismatic friend Bastiano. He lands in Majorca during the Civil War and is involved in a conflict that doesn't represent him. An encounter with Laia, a woman with a Republican background, will force him to question his own destiny.

The Woman Sitting in the Corridor - Lotfi Achour (France/Tunisia)
Production: Sébastien Hussenot for La Luna Production
Co-production: Lotfi Achour for APA Artistes Producteurs Associés
When 19-year-old Sonia learns that her father, who was supposedly killed in an accident, died after being tortured during the Ben Ali dictatorship, she travels to Tunis to try to discover the truth about her family history. Behind her father's story, Sonia realises the sacrifices her mother had to make 30 years earlier.

Rabies - Sandra Tabet (France/Lebanon)
Production: Thomas Micoulet for Haut Les Mains Productions
Co-production: Rana Eid for DB Studio
Sixty-year-old Julia, a university History professor, teaches students about the unresolved conflicts of the Lebanese Civil War. As she tries to rebuild her fragile relationship with Ghassan, her son, the city's dark past resurfaces, conveyed by the return of stray dogs from the war. When the young man is bitten, mother and son embark on a nightmarish journey in which history repeats itself, and they must do everything in their power to avoid succumbing to the rabies epidemic threatening the town.

The Taste of Peach – Elene Mikaberidze (Georgia)
Production: Keti Danelia for Takes Film
Co-production: Tekia Machavariani for Nushi Film
Lili, a young Belgian-Georgian woman, returns closer to her native land, Abkhazia, a breakaway region, within Georgia. Driven by an irresistible need to reconnect with her roots and especially her grandmother, she opens a guesthouse at the separation line, eagerly awaiting the arrival of her Belgian friends. Everything appears to be going well, but as the geopolitical tides shift and the Georgian government aligns closer with Russia, rather than Europe, Lili's haven becomes a refuge for a desperate mosaic of humanity – Georgians caught in the crossfire, Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war, and Russians escaping the mobilisation. Lili, straddling the divide of her own conflicted identity, is thrust into the heart of this silent war.

Le refuge (Das heim) - Abdallah Al-Khatib (Algeria)
Production: Salah Issaad for Issaad Film Productions
When a court’s rejection of her asylum application and impending deportation orders shatter 25-year-old Nour’s dreams of a future in Germany, she and a group of women in a private refugee residence join forces to fight a multi-faceted battle to break their deportation orders and remain in Germany, in search of a less oppressive future for themselves and their children.

Shehrazade’s Birds - Sofia El Khyari (Morocco)
Production: Sofia El Khyari for Oneiris Animation
During the French protectorate, Warda, born into a modest family, uses drawing as an escape. Her life changes when she falls in love with Hassan, a fervent nationalist working at the Shehrazade Cinema. With the help of Ninio, a passionate young boy filming the first amateur Moroccan movies, they start dreaming of independence and boundless freedom.

Running With Beasts - Leila Basma (Czech Republic/Lebanon)
Production: Natália Pavlove for Other Stories
Co-production: Zeina Badran for Spotless Mind Films
In the midst of the ongoing Lebanese economic crisis, a group of five secondary-school students meet one last time after their graduation day to finalise their secret plan, which should enable them to afford their impending dreams.

Shibboleth - Alexandra Matheou (Cyprus/France)
Production: Tonia Mishiali for Bark Like A Cat
Co-production: Soyo Giaoui for La Cellule Productions
Mary – a young surrogate mother – goes on holiday to stay with Nora and Carole, the wealthy couple of 50-year-old writers for whom she is pregnant. As soon as she arrives, Mary realises that she is on an island unlike any other and that the couple's intentions are not so clear. Her encounter with “The Mother”, a mysterious woman revered by all of the islanders, is an eye-opener.

Tkallem - Nejib Kthiri (Tunisia/UK)
Production: Afef Ben Mahmoud for Mésanges Films
Co-production: Nejib Kthiri for Seventh Age films
In Tunisia in 2023, growing social tensions resulting from the sub-Saharan refugee crisis are fuelling racism and xenophobia. Walid, a 12-year-old black Tunisian boy, struggles with constant questions about his identity and a rising tide of bigotry. To add to his challenges, Walid faces progressive mutism, a condition that renders him mute when pressed about his identity.

A Cold Distance (Una fredda distanza) - Marco Amenta (Italy)
Production: Simonetta Amenta for Eurofilm
One day, the unpredictable occurs. In a heartbeat, Francois, a rugged undercover detective, has to make a decision that will change his life forever. A decision capable of bridging the cold distance between him and his bait, Elena, a stubborn single mother in search of a new heart that will save her life.

(Translated from French)