Producers on the Move Participants Reveal Their Next Projects (EXCLUSIVE)
By Leo Barraclough
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Producers on the Move, a networking forum for up-and-coming producers from Europe, takes place as a virtual event this week. The organizer, European Film Promotion, has given Variety exclusive access to the projects the producers are pitching to sales companies.
Here are their projects, including the latest films from the directors of SXSW standout “Lake Bodom” and Cannes breakout “Fire Will Come.” (Biographies of the producers can be found at this link .)
“After”
Producer: Andrea Queralt, 4 A 4 Productions (France)
Director: Oliver Laxe
Genre: Existential Road-Movie
The next film from Oliver Laxe, the director of Cannes breakout hit “Fire Will Come,” winner of the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize. “After” follows a disparate group of ravers who go in quest of the ultimate party in a remote corner of Africa. They embark on an odyssey into the depths of the Saharan desert, a mirror of sand for the characters, driving them to the brink, and forcing them to face their flaws.
“La Bella Estate”
Producer: Giovanni Pompili, Kino Produzioni (Italy)
Director: Laura Luchetti
Genre: Coming-of-Age Drama
“La Bella Estate” is a sensual coming-of-age drama set in Turin in 1939. Ginia, who is 16, embarks on a dangerous journey to discover real love when she encounters charismatic and free-spirited Amelia.
“Dark Paradise”
Producer: Elina Livinova (Estonia), Three Brothers
Director: Triin Ruumet
Genre: Tragi-Comedy
A poignant tale, on the border between tragedy and black humor, about 27-year-old Karmen, who discovers that her recently buried, caring daddy was actually living in debt and their whole life was one big lie. After committing an atrocious act against her half-brother, Karmen must now face the dark void of the universe, which can only be filled with love.
“Gregorius, the Chosen One”
Producer: Mikuláš Novotný, Background Films (Czech Republic)
Director: Tomasz Mielnik
Genre: Black Comedy
“Gregorius, the Chosen One” will be a black comedy set in the Middle Ages. Gregorius grows up believing he’s an orphan, later accidentally marries his mother, and towards the end of his life he becomes… the Pope. A fresh and ironic approach to a poem by Hartmann von Aue, “The Good Sinner.”
“Hoop Kings of Cork”
Producer: John Wallace, Cowtown Films (Ireland)
Directors: Rob and Ronan Burke (Independent Talent Group)
Genre: Sports Comedy-Drama
An NBA failure is recruited by an ambitious amateur basketball team in 1980s Ireland.
“The Jewish Girl”
Producer: Tanja Georgieva-Waldhauer, Elemag Pictures (Germany)
Director/writer: Sharon Bar-Ziv
1943. Christo (Samuel Finzi), a bar owner, is determined to save a wounded 16-year-old Jewish girl, who jumped off a train heading to Auschwitz. Meanwhile, he develops an intimate relationship with the Jewish doctor treating his wife. Based on a true story.
“The Land Within Me”
Producer: Yll Uka, Ikonë Studio (Kosovo)
Director: Fisnik Maxhuni
Co-production between Switzerland, Kosovo, France, Bulgaria
A story of secrets in a post-war society. The two main characters have to assist in the exhumation of a mass grave in their village as secrets from the past emerge along with the bodies.
“Madame”
Producer: Marta Habior, No Sugar Films (Poland)
Director: Jacek Borcuch, based on the bestselling novel by Antoni Libera (same title)
In Poland, during the grim years of Soviet-controlled mediocrity, a remarkably erudite schoolboy falls in love with his French teacher. His infatuation allows him to contrast the drab and corrupt culture of post-war Poland with the sparkle of French literary and artistic society. Without realizing it, his efforts to close in on “Madame” are his first steps to liberation as an artist.
“Mamacruz”
Producer: Olmo Figueredo, La Claqueta (Spain) with La Cruda Realidad (Spain)
Director: Patricia Ortega
Genre: Comedy, Elderly Coming-of-Age Drama
A religious grandmother learns how to use the internet. When she accidentally comes across pornography, she is faced with a dilemma: To follow the beliefs that dictate the socially correct behavior for an older woman, or to surrender to temptation in the search of a delicious and shameless orgasm.
“Matadero”
Producers: Andrea Queralt, 4 A 4 Productions (France), Magoya Films (Argentina) and El Viaje Films
Director: Santiago Fillol
Genre: Political Thriller
1975. An American filmmaker arrives in the Argentinian Pampas to film the story of the first revolt of laborers against the landowners. The actors are clandestine militants, in danger of being killed themselves.
“The Narcissist” (working title)
Producer: Marie Kjellson, Kjellson & Wik (Sweden)
Director: Katja Wik
The film will be a character-driven, entertaining story centered on a group of people, some of them obsessed with their own image and affirmation, some of them on the contrary happily focusing on the here and now, feeling content with life as it is.
“The Sky Is Mine”
Producers: Alan R. Milligan, Tannhauser Gate (Norway) with Deepak Rauniyar (Aadi Production), Jeremy Chua (Potocol)
Director: Deepak Rauniyar
Genre: Police Thriller
Pooja breaks centuries-old barriers to become the first female Nepalese police superintendent. Nothing has prepared her for her first case: Two boys are kidnapped with no clues and only 24 hours to save them, in a town in the midst of racial unrest.
“Thunder”
Producer: Flavia Zanon, Close Up Films (Switzerland)
Director: Carmen Jaquier
In the summer of 1900 in a Swiss village, Elisabeth, 17, returns home from the convent after learning of her sister’s mysterious death. Reunited with her three childhood friends she discovers that faith and desire can sometimes be intertwined.
“The Twin”
Producer: Aleksi Hyvärinen, Don Films Oy (Finland)
Director: Taneli Mustonen
Genre: Elevated Horror
Next up from the team behind the Scandi horror hit and SXSW standout film “Lake Bodom,” “The Twin” is an English-language elevated horror film about a mother’s instinct gone wrong. A chillingly twisted tale about a mother who needs to confront the unbearable truth about her surviving twin son.
“Waterline”
Producer: Mário Patrocínio, BRO Cinema (Portugal)
Genre: Crime Thriller
The English-language scripted TV series centers on the discovery of the identity of a mysterious American diver by a British police officer, which leads to an investigation into a high-society family’s links to international drug trafficking.
