Baltic co-production market unveils new projects

The fifth edition of the market runs this year from November 29 to December 2 during the Black Nights Film Festival in the Estonian capital of Tallinn.

Kousaar came to international attention in 2007 when her feature debut Magnus was screened at Un Certain Regard in Cannes, while Kotwica’s last feature Black Ice was in competition at the Berlinale last year and Konopka is now travelling the festival circuit with his medium-length documentary Rabbit A La Berlin about the rabbits who made home in the so-called “death strip” on the Eastern side of the Berlin Wall.

Vakkasova, a graduate of the UK National Film & Television School, will be attending the Co-Production Market with her poetic neo-realist drama Aral. It was also pitched  at June’s Moscow Co-Production Forum and will be produced by fellow NFTS graduates Gavin Humphries and Anna Higgs’ London-based Quark Films.

The film-makers will be pitching their projects in one-to-one meetings with potential partners from all over Europe including sales agents Rezo Films, M-Appeal, East-West Film Distribution, Non Stop Film Sales, distributors Gutek Film, Yume Pictures, TrustNordisk and Central Partnership, and financiers includingGermany’s Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung and  Strasbourg’s Eurimages.

In addition to the  Co-Production Market, the Baltic Event will include the Coming Soon section with a special focus on Uzbekistan, the annual Baltic Screenings and a Literary Rights Market ‚From Books to Film’ in cooperation with this year’s Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) which runs from November 26 –December 4.

The festival  will open with a gala screening of Marc Webb’s (500) Days Of Summer and close with Valeri Todorovsky’s music film Hipsters.

The Eurasia official competition lineup includes the world premiere of Napoleon Helmis’s Wedding In Bessarabia and Eastern European premieres of films such as Lee Hey-jun’s Castaway On The Moon, Byambasuren Davaa’s The Two Horses Of Genghis Khan and Buddhadev Dasgupta’s The Window.

The former Baltic Event project Vasha by Hannu Salonen is screening in the Baltic feature film competition along with titles including Ignas Miskinis’ Low Lights and Jaak Kilmi’s Disco And Atomic War.

In addition, PÖFF is collaborating with Screen International for the third year to present the Screen International Critics’ Choice showcasing four titles selected by Sceen’s global critics’ network.They are:  Bruno Dumont’s Hadewlijch, Jane Campion’s Bright Star, Jacques Audiard’s A Prophet and Jessica Hausner’s Lourdes.

New to the festival this year is the Black Market Industry Screenings held  from November 30 to December 3. They will focus on new films from Central and Eastern Europe, the Baltic region and Nordic countries, Russia and Central Asia.

A programme of around 50 features and documentaries includes FilmFestival Cottbus winner The 40th Door by Elchin Musaoglu (Azerbaijan), The Conflict Zone by Vano Burduli (Georgia), Last Cowboy Standing by Zaida Bergroth (Finland), and Kino Karavan by Titus Muntean (Romania).

Complete line-up of Co-Production Market projects: 

A Kronstadt Tale (Russia)

Dir: Ben van Lieshout

Prod co: Salvador D Production Company

Adalbert’s Dream (Romania)

Dir: Gabriel Achim

Prod co: Libra Film

Aral (Uzbekistan)

Dir: Ella Vakkasova

Prod co: Quark Films

Bota (Albania)

Dir: Iris Elezi

Prod co: I’s Continuum

Chamber (Hungary)

Dir: Zsombor Dyga

Prod co: Filmteam

European Psycho (Estonia)

Dir:  Kadri Kõusaar

Prod co: Meteoriit

Fear Of Heights (Poland)

Dir: Bartosz Konopka

Prod co: Munk Studio

Fling A Stone, David! (Lithuania)

Dir: Sharunas Bartas

Prod co: Era Film/Kinema Studio

Paradjanov (Ukraine)

Dir: Olena Fetisova

Prod co:  Interfilm Production Studio

People There (Latvia)

Dir: Aik Karapetian

Prod co: Locomotive Productions

Rat King (Finland)

Dir: Petri Kotwica

Prod co: Making Movies

Something Blue (Finland)

Dir: Hanna Maylett

Prod co: Helsinki-filmi