Thirty feature projects will receive production support from European cinema support fund Eurimages, it was announced in Montreal. 

A total of €6,447,783 will be invested in 23 fiction films, six documentaries and one animated feature. Contemporary political themes are prominent. 

See below for selected projects

Ahmed is the 11th feature to be directed by the Dardennes brothers, which is about a Belgian teenager who plots to kill his teacher after embracing an extremist interpretation of the Koran. Wild Bunch launched the film at Cannes last month. 

Also receiving funding is Daniel, the new film from Danish writer-director Niels Arden Oplev (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo). TrustNordisk boarded the project for international sales at Cannes; it will tell the true story of the ISIS kidnapping of Danish photographer Daniel Rye Ottosen in 2013.

Gianfranco Rosi’s documentary Nocturnal, exploring border areas in the Middle East, has also received backing. The director revealed details of the project at a Doha Film Institute masterclass earlier this year: “It’s shot in the Middle East and I focus on borders, these borders that are somehow a betrayal of history and born in 1916, designed by someone with a brandy and a cigar. These borders have changed the destiny of populations.”

Thirty-two percent of the projects are by woman directors. Those projects will receive €1,309,177, a 20% share of the total. (Eurimages pointed out just 24% of the projects considered for funding were by woman directors.)

They include historical drama The Orphanage by Shahrbanoo Sadat, her sequel to Wolf And Sheep which premiered in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes in 2016; and The Son by Ines Tanovic, a coming-of-age story of two teenagers searching their identity in their hometown, Sarajevo. Tanovic previously directed Our Everyday Life, Bosnia & Herzegovina’s submission for best foreign language film to the 2016 Oscars.

Distribution support

The Eurimages board has also pre-selected 25 distributors to receive marketing and publicity support totalling €723,389. The programme is for distributors in Eurimages member states without access to the EU Creative Europe-MEDIA distribution programme. They include distributors from Canada, Switzerland, Georgia, Turkey and Russia. 

The board has also decided to integrate seven cinemas into the Eurimages network, with retroactive effect from January 1 2018 (see below for the cinemas).

The call for project deadlines for 2019 have been set as follows: January 16, April 11, August 22 and October 22.

Production support: the projects

  • Scars - Agnieszka Zwiefka, €80,000 (Ger, Pol, Neth) *documentary
  • Psychosis in Stockholm - Maria Bäck, €95,671 (Swe, Den)
  • Pelican Blood - Katrin Gebbe, €143,506 (Ger, Bul)
  • Adoration - Fabrice Du Welz, €240,000 (Bel, Fr)
  • The Domestique – Kieron J. Walsh, €380,000 (Ire, Lux, Bel)
  • Daniel - Niels Arden Oplev, €380,000 (Den, Swe, Nor)
  • Transnistra - Anna Eborn, €80,000 (Swe, Bel, Den) *documentary
  • Patrick - Gonçalo Waddington, €330,000 (Port, Ger)
  • Suicide Tourist - Jonas Arnby, €430,000 (Den, Ger, Nor)
  • Fever - Helen Simon, €160,000 (Ger, Czech) *documentary
  • Berlin Alexanderplatz (working title) - Burhan Qurbani, €360,000 (Ger, Neth)
  • Sole - Carlo Sironi, €160,000 (It, Pol)
  • The Son - Ines Tanovic, €125,000 (Bos/Her, Slovenia, Cro)
  • The Barefoot Emperor - Peter Brosens, Jessica Woodworth, €250,000 (Bel, Neth, Cro, Bul)
  • Charlotte - Bibo Bergeron, €380,000 (Can, Bel, Fr) *animation
  • Natural Light - Dénes Nagy, €290,000 (Hun, Bel, Lat)
  • Exil - Visar Morina, €199,174 (Ger, Bel)
  • Goodbye Soviet Union - Lauri Randla, €99,587 (Est, Fin)
  • National Street - Štepán Altrichter, €94,845 (Czech, Ger)
  • The Volcano - Miguel Angel Jiménez, €180,000 (Sp, Gr)
  • The Obscure Night - Sylvain George, €60,000 (Fr, Switz) *documentary
  • The Orphanage - Shahrbanoo Sadat, €210,000 (Den, Fr, Ger, Lux)
  • Nocturnal - Gianfranco Rosi, €370,000 (Fr, It, Ger) *documentary
  • Ahmed - Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, €380,000 (Bel, Fr)
  • Black Garden, Blue Skies - Nora Martirosyan, €200,000 (Fr, Arm)
  • February - Kamen Kalev, €130,000 (Fr, Bul)
  • The Labudovic Reels - Mila Turajlic, €90,000 (Serb, Fr) *documentary
  • Old Timers - Martin Dusek and Ondrej Provaznik, €190,000 (Czech, Slovak Rep)
  • Place de l’Europe - Philip Scheffner, €170,000 (Ger, Fr)
  • The Dawn - Dalibor Matanic, €190,000 (Cro, It)

Distribution support: the companies 

SWITZERLAND

  • Filmcoopi Zürich: €44,000
  • JMH Distribution: €11,000
  • Trigon-Films: €33,000
  • Frenetic Films: €82,000
  • Agora Films: €54,500
  • Xenix Filmdistribution: €32,000
  • Praesens-Film: €43,500
  • Impuls Pictures: €20,000
  • Cineworx: €26,640
  • Adok Films: €8,000

RUSSIAN FEDERATION

  • Kinologistika Show: €20,000
  • Exponenta Plus: €10,000
  • Russian Report: €23,000
  • Cinema Prestige: €32,000
  • Capella Film: €21,000
  • A-One-Film: €21,000
  • Provzglyad: €40,150

TURKEY

  • Fabula Medya: €37,500
  • Filmarti Film: €19,650
  • Yeni Bir Film: €97,000
  • Mars Production: €7,699

CANADA

  • Canadian Russian Entertainment Laboratory (Carusel): €11,000
  • MK2/Mile End: €9,500
  • A-Z Films: €16,000
  • Elevation Pictures: €3,250

Exhibition support: the cinemas 

  • Cinéma Le Clap, Québec (2157-5154 Québec Inc.)
  • Cinéma Beaubien, Montréal (Corporation du Cinéma Beaubien)
  • Cinéma du Parc, Montréal (Corporation du Cinéma du Parc)
  • Le Tapis Rouge, Trois-Rivières (Cinémas Olympia Inc)
  • Documentary Film Center, Moscow (Documentary Film Center)
  • Houdini, Zurich (Neugass Kino AG)
  • SineBU, Istanbul (Buvak) 

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