Roskino and Russian Cinema Fund to make presentations.

Russian cinema will be represented by not one, but two stands at the Marché du Film much to the bewilderment of some in the industry.

While Roskino, the successor to the former state film organisation Sovexportfilm, is the official organiser of the Russian Pavilion with support from the Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs, the Russian Cinema Fund is backing the Russian Cinema stand in the Festival Palais.

Both initiatives will be having presentations of extracts from completed films or works in progress to sales agents, distributors and festival programmers.

Roskino’s line-up on May 17 will include Natalia Meshaninova’s The Hope Factory [pictured], Igor Voloshin’s Moscow-Russia Express, the documentary Rudolf Nureyev. A Rebel Demon, and Sergei Dvortsevoy’s My Little One, co-produced by the late Karl Baumgartner.

The Russian Cinema Fund will follow three days later – on May 20 - with its own showcase of 19 projects at various stages of production, from shooting through post-production to completed titles.

They include the melodrama Two Women, starring Ralph Fiennes and Sylvie Testud and sold internationally by Rezo Films, as well as Bazelev’s comedy sequel Yolki 1914, Enjoy Movies’ horror thriller Bathory, Russian World Vision’s sci-fi adventure Fort Ross and Sovteleexport’s biopic The Iron Ivan.

In addition to a series of special events and roundtables, Roskino is also giving Russian producers to pitch new projects to potential co-production partners. The selected projects include Dmitry Mamulia’s Dogs. Desire. Death, Anna Fenchenko’s Chekhov’s List, and Timofey Zhalnin’s The Disappearance, which received development support from the private P.O.V. Fund at the beginning of the year.

The 16 companies based at the Russian Cinema stand include:

  • All Media with the market premiere of its comedy Kitchen In Paris (released in Russian cinemas on May 1);

  • animation studio Wizart Animation with first footage from its two feature films Snow Queen 2 and Sheep and Wolves;

  • Raissa Fomina’s Intercinema with two dramas released in Russia last month: Alexander Mitta’s Chagall – Malevich and Marina Migunovoy’s Zerkala about the poetess Marian Tsvetayeva;

  • Central Partnership whose line-up is headed by the action film 22 Minutes which opened in Russia on May 8;

  • Masterfilmstudio will be showing first footage of its historical fantasy animation feature The Magic Tower made with China’s Jiang Toon Animation.

Ant!pode adds two

At its second Marché du Film this year, Anton Mazurov’s Ant!pode Sales&Distribution has added two new completed titles to its line-up and will also be looking to generate interest in a number of works in post production.

The two new pickups are:

  • Ukrainian film-maker Viktoria Trofimenko’s feature debut Brothers. The Final Confession, based on a bestselling novely by Torgny Lindgren;

  • Andrey Silvestrov and Yury Leiderman’s experimental film Birmingham Ornament 2.

Titles now nearing completion include Alexey Fedorchenko’s latest feature, the romantic drama Angels Of Revolution, Svetlana Proskurina’s Goodbye Mom in an contemporary reworking of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, and Anna Melikyan’s third feature Star after the award-wnning Mermaid.