15/11/2024 - Iveta Grófová, Belkis Bayrak, Vuk Rsumovic, Veronika Lišková and Eva Neymann are notably in the running for aid grants, while five projects form the basis of the Czech Republic Focus

Director Eva Neymann, selected with the project Twins (© Andriy Makukha)

Unspooling within the 25th Arras Film Festival (running 7 – 17 November), the 13th edition of Arras Days is set to unveil nine projects currently in the writing phase, which will then be pitched on Saturday 16 November to a jury of three professionals (Milja Mikkola of the Midnight Sun Film Festival, Dario Vecchiato of Beluga Tree and Laurent Danielou of Loco Films) before battling it out for two development aid grants (put forth by the festival itself and the Town of Arras). Also devised as a co-production and funding platform, Arras Days will provide producers, distributers and sales agents who are interested in these projects with an opportunity to discover them in situ. The event recently attracted attention thanks to two projects pitched in 2022: the Cannes competitor Three Kilometres to the End of the World [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Emanuel Pârvu
film profile] by Romania’s Emmanuel Parvu, which was unveiled in competition in Cannes, and Mother by Macedonia’s Teona Strugar Mitevska, which is currently in production, with Sweden’s Noomi Rapace playing the lead role of Mother Teresa.

Stealing focus among the projects gracing this year’s showcase are upcoming feature films by Slovakia’s Iveta Grófová (who competed in Karlovy Vary last summer with The Hungarian Dressmaker [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Iveta Grófová
film profile]), Turkey’s Belkis Bayrak (well-received this year in Toronto’s Discovery section as well as in San Sebastián’s New Directors line-up, thanks to Gülizar [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Belkıs Bayrak and Bekir Beh…
film profile]), Serbia’s Vuk Rsumovic (revealed via No One’s Child [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] in Venice’s Critics’ Week 2014), Czech director Veronika Lišková (selected for Locarno’s Critics’ Week in 2022 thanks to The Visitors [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]) and Ukraine’s Eva Neymann (selected in Karlovy Vary and Toronto in 2015 via Song of Songs [+see also:
trailer
film profile]).

Likewise set to be pitched are new projects by Bulgaria’s Nadejda Koseva, the Netherlands’ Stijn Bouma, Turkey’s Mehmet Bahadir and France’s Margaux Elouagari.

It’s worth noting that the pitching session will be preceded by a round table entitled “The challenge of producing and directing a first film for the cinema”, featuring director Jonathan Millet (Ghost Trail [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jonathan Millet
interview: Pauline Seigland
film profile]), his producer Pauline Seigland (Films Grand Huit) and Bruno Deloye (director of Ciné+).

Last but not least, Sunday 17 November will see Arras Days paying tribute to the Czech Republic by presenting five national titles: two works in progress (courtesy of Martin Kuba and Tomáš Hubáček) and three in development by Jan Gebert, Jan Svejkar and Anna Wowra.

The projects in question are as follows:

Fleur de sel – Nadejda Koseva (Bulgaria)
After a terrible accident, arrogant, 30-year-old film director Nina, who’s estranged from her family, is forced to undergo sessions of rehabilitation where she meets fifty-something Irini, a salt flower harvester and self-proclaimed healer with a dubious gift, who believes that the body cannot be healed in isolation from the soul.

My Other Perfect Me - Veronika Lišková (Czech Republic)
Actress and singer Tereza has been living with an eating disorder for ten years. She has already grown accustomed to her “bad neighbour”, as she sometimes calls her bulimia. When the disease threatens to permanently damage her voice, she decides to fight another round in her struggle for recovery...

New World - Margaux Elouagari (France)
Ten-year-old Soso lives alone with his heavily indebted grandmother, Monique, on a mining estate in the afflicted town of Denain. When the neighbourhood’s main drug dealer is forced to flee, Soso tries to get closer to the former’s lonely mother, Nadia, to take advantage of the money left by her son.

Little Man, What Now? - Stijn Bouma (Netherlands)
In a near-dystopian future, Johan and Emma are desperately trying to find a home to start their family in a city marred by poverty and social unrest. As the veneer of civilization wears increasingly thin, their love for each other becomes their greatest asset. The movie is based on Hans Fallada’s 1932 novel, Little Man, What Now?

Fluid - Vuk Rsumovic (Serbia)
When a deeply unfulfilled housewife becomes obsessed with her privileged friend’s enigmatic housekeeper, a fatal car crash plunges her into a surreal journey of identity displacement. Waking up in her friend’s life, she pursues her fascination, only to discover that reality is far more fluid than she imagined, leading to a savage liberation from her suffocating existence.

Reborn - Iveta Grófová (Slovakia)
A film about faith, CCTV cameras and a talking dog, this drama, romance and dark crime thriller boasts an existential dimension as it tells the story of a reasonable man who is close to losing his mind, and the story of a pastor who is close to losing her faith in God. They need only believe in one another if they wish to live life again.

A Brighter Word Than Bright - Belkis Bayrak (Turkey)
Osman finds himself on trial for the tragic death of Ziya, whom he met and befriended in the army. He takes the blame for a crime he didn’t commit to honour Ziya and her fiancé́, Yaren. Following his release from prison, Osman’s new life is deeply disrupted when he encounters Yaren once again. Osman will have to decide whether to forget or remember.

Toz Baba - Mehmet Bahadir (Turkey)
Olkan, who had to flee the country he lived in (in Europe) because of the crime he committed, has had to hide in the mosque of an extraordinary Sufi group in Istanbul. He subsequently brings other dervishes together in order to establish his own community and create his own miracle.

Twins - Eva Neymann (Ukraine)
Born a couple of minutes after his brother, a younger twin is destined to have his brother’s face, body, desires and dreams. The resemblance becomes a damnation, driving him from murder to love and from happiness to death. Until the bitter end, even his shadow pretends to be the ghost of his dead brother, following him alongside his inflexible fate.

Czech Republic Focus

Works in Progress

Three Weeks Under The Sea - Martin Kuba
Set in Ukraine after Crimea’s annexation, the film sees Misha returning for his father’s funeral, only to find a stranger in the coffin. Pulled into a dangerous web of mobsters, arms theft and past and present loves, Misha must confront his father’s dark past. But he realises the burden of his father’s legacy is too great to bear, so he decides to confront it.

Wirbel - Tomáš Hubáček
A burnt-out city-dweller inherits an abandoned house in a remote borderland, the soul of which turns out to be as broken as his own. Just before he leaves, he meets a mysterious girl. Thanks to her, he learns about an ancient composition inscribed in the surrounding fields. It turns out that this mystery isn’t just the key to saving her life, it’s also a way of finding a new identity.

Projects in Development

Europa - Jan Gebert
In order to become human, you must first find the ape inside of yourself.

Hotel Moldau – Jan Svejkar
A cabaret dancer from Berlin is hired as a decoy in a highly confidential mission to help put an end to anti-Hitler radio transmissions from a secluded hotel in Czechoslovakia. Amidst all manner of mysteries, she meets an unlikely hero and befriends him. But, as the clock ticks, things fall apart under the growing pressure of lies and deceit.

In Good Faith – Anna Wowra
In a small Polish town, fifteen-year-old devout catholic Hanna enjoys a close-knit family dynamic, but she’s faced with a moral dilemma when her sister becomes unexpectedly pregnant, leading her on a journey of self-discovery and challenging her perception of faith and family.

(Translated from French)