The 37th Belgrade International Film Festival FEST has opened its fourth East-West co-production market, the B2B Industry Meetings.

B2B spotlights countries that are geographically in Europe, but not fully integrated in European film networks and markets, as well as countries outside Europe with strong European influence and heritage.

The co-production market gives film-makers, producers, distributors, exhibitors, and public bodies from those countries the chance to meet and cooperate with representatives of Western European film funds, production companies, festival selectors and TV buyers.

Participating countries are divided into three sections: East-European (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova Russia and Ukraine), Euro-Asian (Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) and Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia).

An award of $6,590 (Euros 5,000) is given to the best project from each section.

A total of 12 projects have been selected by the committee comprising Ljudmila Cvitkova, the Rotterdam Film Festival selector for Eastern Europe; Serbian producer Jelena Mitrovic and German script consultant Jurgen Seidler.

Belgrade’s closing film this year, the world premier of Darko Lungolov’s Here And There on Sunday March 1, was presented at a previous B2B meeting.

The film is a Serbian-USA-German co-production between Kino Kamera, Joroni Film, Here and There Productions and Penrose Film.

Here And There stars David Thornton, Mirjana Karanovic and singer Cindy Lauper and is being handled internationally by Berlin-based Films Boutique.

2009 B2B SELECTED PROJECTS:

Euro-Asian section:

Farewell Baghdad (Mafhryach Hayonim),

Scriptwriter and director: Nissim Dayan

Production company: Aram Prod.Ltd., Israel

Macho

Scriptwriter: Zhaiyk Syzdykov

Director: Nariman Turebayev

Production company: Pocket Agency, Kazakhstan

Ghost Of Ben Laden, Or Journey Around The Native Land (Shabehai Ben Laden, Ya Safar Dar Vatan),

Scriptwriter: Safar Khakdodov

Director: Nosir Saidov

Production company: Kinoservice Ltd., Tajakistan

Present Tense (Simdiki Zaman),

Scriptwriter and director: Belmin Soylemez

Production company: Bizzatfilm, Turkey

East-European section:

Endles Return (Anverj Veradardz),

Scriptwriters: Harutyun Khachatryan and Mikayel Stamboltsyan

Director: Harutyun Khachatryan

Production company: Golden Apricot Fund For Cinema Divelopment, Armenia

Instructions For Divorce (Gankkorcineba Kartulad),

Scriptwriters: Tamara Sulamanidze, Tina Kajrishvili and Giorgi Tskhvediani

Director: Tamara Sulamanidze

Production company: Pilots Ent., Georgia

The Summer Of Frozen Fountains(Gakinuli Shadrevnebis Tselitsadi)

Scriptwriter and director: Vano Burduli

Production company: Independent Film Project, Georgia

Balkan section:

Borders, Raindrops (Granice, Kise)

Scriptwriters and directors: Nikola Mijovic and Vlastimir Sudar

Production company: Balkan Film, Bosnia & Herzegovina

Heaven On Earth (Raj Na Zemlji)

Scriptwriter and director: Ognjen Svili ic

Production company: Shilo Films, Croatia

Piano Room (Soba So Pijano)

Scriptwriter: Zanina Mir evska

Director: Igor Ivanov

Production company: Skopje Film Studio, Republic of Macedonia

Monument To Michael Jackson(Spomenik Majklu Dzeksonu)

Scriptwriter and director: Darko Lungulov

Production company: Kino Kamera, Serbia

The Enemy (Neprijatelj)

Scriptwriter: Djordje Milosavljevic

Director: Dejan Ze evic

Production company: Biberche Productions, Serbia