A great edition for the ESP Coproduction Forum 2021|22!
The Coproduction Forum of European Short Pitch ended on February 11 with a successful edition, organised for the very first time both on site, as part of the Travelling Film Festival (Feb 1-8), in Rennes and online through the brand new ESP platform, powered by our technical partner WYTH.
European Short Pitch is one of the few programmes for short films in Europe that offers both training and a showcasing platform to its selected project representatives. It aims to create new international collaborations around the projects for coproduction, distribution, financing… but it is also designed to promote emerging talents of the European film scene, thus creating new connections that can be pursued in their transition towards feature film.
ESP 2021|22 selected 12 projects at development stage and 4 works in progress. Before attending the Coproduction Forum, the participants took part in different accompanying sessions to enhance the quality of their projects. The consultants who guided them were: Anna Ciennik, Zsuzsanna Kiràly, Mikko Myllylahti (script), Siniša Juričić (production), Massimiliano Nardulli (pitching), Wouter Jansen (distribution), Cătalin Cristuțiu (editing).
The selection of this year was rich, it crossed genres (animation, documentary and fiction) and shook up gender representation (out of 16 projects, 11 were directed by women and 2 by non-binary persons). Download our Book of Projects to find out more about all of them!
12 short film projects in development from 12 European countries (1 animation, 1 anidoc, 1 documentary and 9 fictions)
Across the Waters by Viv Li - Germany, China produced by BB Gun / Alexander Sussmann
Campolivar by Alicia Moncholí - Spain, produced by Oberon Media / Alba Bosch
Dva by Alexandra Karelina - Russia, produced by Stereotactic / Sergey Yahontov - Focus Russia
Find The Boy by Paulin.e Goasmat - France, produced by Nationale 12 / Stéphen Seznec - Focus Brittany
Hun Tun by Magdalena Hejzlarova - Czech Republic, produced by 13ka / Karolína Davidová
Imaginary Numbers by Jelica Jerinić, co-writer: Aleksandar Markovič - Serbia, Finland, produced by This and That productions / Dragana Antić
Midnight Skin by Manolis Mavris - Greece, produced by Akran / Romanna Lobach
Penance by Sebastião Salgado - Portugal, produced by Maria & Mayer / Maria João Mayer and Isabel Pestana
Sea Salt by Leila Basma - Lebanon, Czech Republic, produced by Other stories / Natalia Pavlove
The One, Who Knows by Eglė Davidavičė, co-writer: Aušra Umbrasaitė - Lithuania, produced by Art Shot / Agnė Adomėnė, Baltic Pitching Forum talent
The Primal Fear by Frida Spång - Sweden, seeking production
The Reptiles by Kristina Spassovska - Bulgaria, produced by Viktoria Films Ltd. / Maya Vitkova-Kosev
4 work-in-progress short films
3 Dialogues About the Future by Alina Manolache - Romania, produced by Playtime / Alina Manolache
Affricate by Anna Gyimesi - Hungary, produced by Umbrella Kreativ Mühely Kft. / Ádám Felszeghy
Airhostess-737 by Thanasis Neofotistos - Greece, produced by Argonauts Productions / Ioanna Bolomyti, Dimitris Tsakaleas
Jungle Law by Madli Lääne - Estonia, produced by Alexandra Film / Marianne Ostrat
The Coproduction Forum took place on site on 7-8 February and online on 7-8 & 10-11 February, it gathered around 110 professional attendees and hosted more than 200 one-on-one meetings as well as events (pitching session, screening and discussion with the Brittany-based Stank production company, keynote on Europe-Russia collaborations…). We are eager to see new potential collaborations coming to life! Videos of the pre-recorded pitches, as well as our Pitching and Q&A Live Event, that was streamed live, are still available on the ESP platform. For any information please contact us.
The European Short Pitch Jury, comprised Ilaria Gomarasca (France/Italy, Head of First Cut +), Katarzyna Gondek (Poland/Belgium, Film Director and ESP Alumna) and Amélie Quéret (France, Respiro Productions), who awarded the main Prize granted by the Région Bretagne to:
• ACROSS THE WATERS by Viv Li, receiving the €3.000 development grant
Jury statement:”The project that we want to award is cinematic, poetic and political. The pitch made us trust the team and we want to support their challenging journey ACROSS THE WATERS.”
Moreover, the 3 additional in-kind awards given out by our partners, went to:
• SEA SALT by Leila Basma, awarded with the Music & Cinema Award from Music & Cinema - Festival International du Film à Marseille
• 3 DIALOGUES ABOUT THE FUTURE by Alina Manolache, awarded with the Distribution Award - Radiator IP Sales
• JUNGLE LAW by Madli Lääne, awarded with the Mastering-in-kind Award - The Pack.
We would like to warmly congratulate the award winners, as well as all our participants.
We also take this opportunity to, once again, thank our main partners, Creative Europe - MEDIA, Région Bretagne, Vostok, Ville de Rennes - Rennes Métropole, for their crucial support.