Sun Belt Express and Lake Los Angeles win main prizes.

US in Progress Wroclaw

The third US in Progress Wrocław - a works-in-progress event targeted at US independent filmmakers and European buyers - has handed its main prizes to Sun Belt Express and Lake Los Angeles.

This year, six films selected from around 40 submissions competed for prizes consisting of post-production and promotional services worth $60,000.

The main awards went to Sun Belt Express by Evan Wolf Buxbaum, produced by Noah Lang and Iyabo Boyd, and Lake Los Angeles by Mike Ott, produced by Athina Rachel Tsangari.

Sun Belt Express received DI image post-production from Platige Image studio (Warsaw), foley from Aeroplan Studio (Warsaw), final sound mix from Alvernia Studios (Kraków) and soundtrack from composer Maciej Zieliński of Soundflower Studio (Warsaw).

Lake Los Angeles was offered DI image post-production from DI Factory studio (Warsaw), foley from Aeroplan Studio (Warsaw), DCP creation from DCINEX, subtitling from VSI Paris/Chinkel and the promotional award from Europa Distribution International and CICAE.

Other awarded films were:

  • Summer of Blood by director-producer Onur Tukel (producer: Clifford McCurdy, Melodie Sisk, Max Heller, Matt Grady), which was offered sound design from Soundflower Studio (Warsaw);

  • Wild Canaries by Lawrence Michael Levine (produced by Sophia Takal, Kim Sherman and McCabe Walsh) – given an Acquisition Award by the Polish film channel Ale Kino+;

  • Aeroplan Studio (Warsaw) offered soundtrack composition to the film Happy Baby by Stephen Elliott (produced by Jessica Caldwell);

  • producer Ashley Maynor (Some Beasts by Cameron Nelson) received a free pass for the 2014 Producers’ Network in Cannes

US in Progress Wrocław took place in the scope of the 4th American Film Festival in Wrocław, Poland (Oct 23-25).

More than 50 participants took part, including programmers from Rotterdam FF, Tribeca FF and Semaine de la Critique.

Attending buyers included Match Factory, K5, The Works, Urban Distribution, Wide Management, Reel Suspects, Film Republic, New Europe Film Sales and Sophie Dulac Distribution.

US in Progress Wrocław, previously known as Gotham in Progress, was started in 2011 by the New Horizons Association and Black Rabbit Film.

Previous films presented at US in Progress Wrocław include I Used To Be Darker by Matt Porterfield, Hide Your Smiling Faces by Daniel Carbone, Bluebird by Lance Edmands, Jason Cortlund & Julia Halperin’s Now, Forager: a Film About Love and Fungi, and Amy Seimetz’s Sun Don’t Shine.