European Work In Progress unveils projects for first Filmfest Hamburg edition

EXCLUSIVE: Peruvian filmmaker Francesca Canepa’s coming-of-age drama Belen, German actress-director Katharina Rivilis’s New Mexico-set drama I’ll Be Gone In June, Rosa Friedrich’s documentary My Friend The Pornstar, and Alisa Kolosova’s debut feature I Spy With My Little Eye are among the 27 film projects selected for European Work in Progress (EWIP) to be held during Filmfest Hamburg from September 29 to October 1.

The eighth edition of the event will be the first to be held during the Industry Days programme of Filmfest Hamburg, moving from Cologne where it has been held to date. 

Directors and producers from throughout Europe, as well as countries including Bangladesh, Nepal, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Argentina, and Brazil, will pitch their projects to an international audience of sales agents, distributors, and festival programmers.

Many of the projects are by first-time feature directors such as Turkey’s Onur Sefer, who describes Thursday Night Is Too Dark as “a haunting, introspective look at the emotional toll of modern masculinity”, and Nepal’s Abinash Bikram Shah, whose Elephants In The Fog tells the story of a group of trans women living in a little village terrorised by wild elephants.

According to EWIP’s organisers, there were a record 240 submissions. The total prize money on offer has almost doubled from last year’s €75,000 to €140,000, including new awards sponsored by the Northern Stars - Hamburg Film Partners alliance of companies, postproduction house The Post Republic, the VFX facility D-Facto Motion, and by the distribution company OneGate Media.

The international jury who will decide on the awards are Rémi Bigot, head of the film department at Cannes’ Critics’ Week, Sound of Falling producer Maren Schmitt, ARTE commissioning editor Simon Ofenloch, Yuanyuan Sui, co-managing director of Berlin-based Picture Tree International, Beatrice Gulino, acquisition and distribution executive at Italy’s Teodora Film, and Aaron Kassaye, founder of the Addis Ababa-based distributor and world sales company African Alliance Films.

Success stories

Several projects from the 2024 EWIP line-up have now had their world premieres at international film festivals this year.

Frédéric Hambalek’s second feature What Marielle Knows played in competition at the Berlinale, while Ina Weisse’s Cicadas screened in Panorama and Luzia Schmid’s documentary I Want It All. Hildegard Knef featured in the Panorama Dokumente line-up.

Rwandan filmmaker Philbert Aimé Mbabazi Sharangabo’s debut feature Minimals In A Titanic World was selected for Berlinale Forum and Alissa Jung’s Germany-Italy co-production Paternal Leave premiered in the Generation sidebar where it received the AG Kino - Gilde - CinemaVision 14 Plus Award

In May, Cannes’ Critics’ Week programmed Guillermo Galoe’s feature debut Sleepless City as well as Thai filmmaker Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s black comedy A Useful Ghost which won the sidebar’s grand prix and is now Thailand’s entry for the Oscars.

Most recently, Akio Fujimoto’s Lost Land, the first ever Rohingya-language feature, premiered in Venice’s Horizons sidebar, Bulgarian Stephan Komandarev’s mystery drama Made in EU was selected for Venice’sSpotlight section, and Serbian director Goran Stanković’s Our Father has its world premiere in Toronto’s Discovery programme tomorrow.

 EWIP 2025 

A Little Bit Of Dying (Germany)
Dir: Marleen Valien
Prods: Julius Wieler, Tristan Schneider (Kurhaus Production Film & Medien) co-produced with Catherine Baikousis, Toni Jaschke (Anorak Film)

Avenir (Germany-Burkina Faso)
Dir: Basilio Maritano Sailer
Prods: Nikola Scharl (Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg) co-produced with Alexandra Rilli (Third Picture) and Mamounata Nikiéma (Pilumpiku Production)

Belen (Peru-Mexico-France)
Dir: Francesca Canepa
Prods: Enid Campos León, Jimena Hospina (Split Films) co-produced with Mónica Moreno, Rubén Expósito (Piano), Delphine Schmit (Tripode Productions)

Bike Bike Baby (Germany)
Dir: Simon Ostermann
Prods: Daniel Hartmann, Levin Hübner (Wüste Medien)

Douglas Gordon By Douglas Gordon (UK-France)
Dir: Finlay Pretsell
Prods: Sonja Henrici (Parcel of Rogues) co-produced with Estelle Robin (Grand Course Films)

Down By The River (Brazil-Germany-France)
Dirs: Enock Carvalho, Matheus Farias
Prods: Enock Carvalho, Matheus Farias (Gatopardo Filmes) co-produced with Flavia Oertwig (Tama Filmproduktion), Christoph Lafont (Poetik Films)

Elephants In The Fog (Nepal-Germany-Brazil-France-Norway)
Dir: Abinash Bikram Shah
Prods: Michael Henrichs (Die Gesellschaft DGS), Anup Poudel (Underground Talkies Nepal), Justin Pechberty (Les Valseurs Bordeaux) )

Guardian Of The Island (Ethiopia) 
Dir: Sewmehon Yismaw Sendekie
Prod: Tamirat Mekonen Teklu (Tamirat Mekonen Film Production)

Heirloom (India-Germany)
Dir: Upamanyu Bhattacharyya
Prods: Arya Menon, Shubham Karna (Odd & Even), Upamanyu Bhattacharyya (Otter) co-produced with Fabian Driehorst (Fabian&Fred), Jeremy Chua (Potocol)

Heysel 85 (Belgium-Netherlands-Germany)
Dir: Teodora Ana Mihai
Prods: Hans Everaert (Menuetto Film) co-produced with Anette Unger (Leitwolf Filmproduktion)

Hidden Hills (France-US)
Dir: Virgil Vernier
Prods: Jean des Forêts, Amélie Jaquis (Petit Film), Miléna Henochsberg (Opening Nights Films)

I Spy With My Little Eye (Georgia-Germany)
Dir: Alisa Kolosova. Prods: Tristan Bähre, Philipp Maron (Maverick Film)

I Won’t Die For Love (Spain-Belgium)
Dir:  Marta Matute. Prods: José Esteban Alenda (Solita Films), María Zamora (Elastica Films)

I’ll Be Gone In June (Germany- Switzerland)
Dir: Katharina Rivilis. Prod: Léa Germain (Road Movies) co-produced with Katharina Rivilis (Wolfskind Films)

Kill Me Like A Dog (Bangladesh-Norway) 
Dir: Robiul Alam Robi
Prods: Robiul Alam Robi (Made in Banialulu) co-produced with Samuel Kirby, Nic Osborne (Sunday Film)

Mensch Puppe (Germany)
Dir: Thomas Janze
Prod: Thomas Janze

My Friend The Pornstar (Austria) 
Dir: Rosa Friedrich
Prod: Dominic Spitaler (Ostblok)

Resonance (Bulgaria-Greece-Turkey)
Dir: Yordan Petkov
Prods: Victoria Mitreva (Gar Films), Vanya Rainova (Portokal) co-produced with Mina Dreki (Marni Films), Zeynep Ekmekci (Ikinci Yeni Film)

Runner (Spain) 
Dir: Laura García Alonso
Prods: Miriam Porté Solano (Distinto Films) co-produced with María Zamora (Elastica Films), Àngels Masclans (Dos Soles Media)

The Bog (Latvia-Germany-Estonia)
Dir: Reinis Kalviņš. Prods: Gints Grūbe, Inese Boka–Grūbe (Mistrus Media) co-produced with Verena Gräfe-Höft, Lisa Herbers (Junafilm), Aet Laigu (Meteroiit)

The Fourth King (Croatia-Slovenia-Serbia)
Dir:  Zvonimir Jurić. Prods: Ankica Jurić Tilić (Kinorama) co-produced with Eva Rohrmann (Forum Ljubjlana), Miroslav Mogorović, Szabolcs Tolnai (Atalanta)

The Guests (Germany-Spain)
Dir: Cristina Diz, Stefan Butzmühlen
Prods: Begüm Bakirci, Michael Weber, Viola Fügen (Match Factory) co-produced with Luisa Romeo (Frida Films)

Thursday Night Is Too Dark (Turkey-Germany-India)
Dir: Onur Sefer
Prods: Sinem Kanat (Praksis Film), Katharina Suckale (Bombay Berlin Film Productions - Germany), Arfi Laamba (Bombay Berlin Film Productions - India)

Tour One  (Germany-Bulgaria)
Diir: Seamus McNally
Prods: Seamus McNally, Polya Dimitrova (Tour One Pictures) co-produced with Max Thillaye (Product Vision)

Truck Driver (Spain-Argentina)
Dir: Francisco Marise.
Prods: Ezequiel Seguí, Olmo Figueredo (La Claqueta), Amania Films co-produced with Amateur Cinèma

Verdandi (Germany-Faroe Islands)
Dir:  Dagmar Knöpfel
Prods: Natalie Hölzel, Sandra Hölzel (Elfenholz Film) co-produced with Dagmar Knöpfel, Annegret Weitkämpfer-Krug (Gretchenfilm)

Wish I Didn’t Know Now; What I Didn’t Know Then (Georgia-Germany)
Dir: George Sikharulidze
Prods: Giorgi Kavteladze, Mariam Dvalishvili (Meridian 1520) co-produced with Hasmik Avetisyan (Nor Film

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