8. October 2023 | redaktion2 From over 180 submissions, 32 outstanding film projects were selected to be presented to the international industry audience at EWIP and will enter the race for the numerous awards and support. A total of 61.500 euros worth of funding is at stake, which will be awarded in cooperation with EWIP’s various sponsors for production services as well as international festival press services provided by mm filmpresse. All projects will be presented exclusively to the EWIP guests and the international jury in a 15-minute pitching session. Furthermore, there will be direct meetings arranged by EWIP to bring producers together with distributors, world sales or other supporters. The award ceremony will take place on Tuesday, October 18th 2023 at 8:00 pm. Five renowned and highly experienced experts from the international film industry make up this year’s international jury and will deliberate on which projects have the potential to play a significant role in the international film scene in the coming years. Members of this year’s jury include Michael Stütz (Head of Panorama-Section at Berlinale), Holger Stern (commissioning editor ZDF/ARTE), Lorna Lee Torres (Head of International Sales Magnolia Pictures), Reta Guetg (Head of Industry and Programming at Zurich Film Festival) and Hattie Yu (film producer and consultant). As one of the most important film industry events in North Rhine-Westphalia, in this year EWIP will have a focus on Benelux. A total of 3 projects from the neighbouring Benelux countries will take part in this year’s EWIP: BREATHING UNDERWATER (Samsa Film, Artemis Productions), FANON (Special Touch Studios) and RESTLESS (Colour of May, Wady Films). And with the focus on Africa, EWIP directs its perspective towards developments in the film industry that are groundbreaking and will provide elementary impulses for cinema culture in the near future. This spotlight will enrich our vision with projects and perspectives that have great innovative power both for cinema as a cultural-social authority and for the dynamics of shaping and addressing new forms of audiences. The invited projects include THE NIGHT BEFORE EASTER (History Film Ethiopia), the Nigerian production ADIRE (Filmone Entertainment Nigeria) and the Tunisian co-production FANON (Special Touch Studios). The Senegalese coproduction GERMAINE ACOGNY will be presented within the framework of the African focus, but Out of Competition for the EWIP-awards. The EWIP 2023 Selection ADIRE (presented in the frame of FOCUS ON AFRICA) Director: Adeouluwa Owu / Dramedy / Nigeria / November 3rd 2023 Production: Mimi Bartels (FimOne Entertainment) Adire, a retired prostitute, on the run from her pimp, moves to a small town and starts a lingerie business only to face a bigger adversary in the town’s conservative Deaconness. ARMAND Director: Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel / Drama / Norway, The Netherlands, Sweden, Germany / May 2024 Production: Andrea Berentsen Ottmar (Eye Eye Pictures) One of the last days before the school holidays something happens between six year old Armand and Jon. The parents are called in for a meeting, but the school management don’t really know what actually happened. Was it just a children’s game or something much more serious? AROMA DREAM (梦香) Regie: Ma Xue / Drama / China, France / 2024 Production: Ma Xue (Beijing Drama Pictures), Vincent Wang (House on Fire) In the hospital, Nurse Yang Fan found solace in caring for her vegetative patient, Xiao Fang, sharing her deepest secrets, and forming an enigmatic connection. BAYO BAYO BABY Director: Raúl de la Fuente & Amaia Remírez / Feature Documentary / Spain, France / 2024 Production: Dominique Barneaud (Kanaki Films) A young woman has made a life for herself starting a Surf School on the coast, but she can’t forget her girl band struggling in the mean streets of Freetown. She risks everything going back under the dangerous neon lights to find them: These streets kids will reign over the ocean. BREATHING UNDERWATER (AUSSER OTEM) (presented in the frame of FOCUS ON BENELUX) Director: Eric Lamhène / Drama / Luxembourg, Belgium / March 2024 Production: Claude Waringo (Samsa Film) When Emma leaves her picture-perfect life for a women’s shelter, her unlikely friendship with a ragtag group of women pushes them all into a fight to take back their power. BROTHERS (BRÜDER) Director: Türker Süer / Drama / Germany, Turkey / May 2024 Production: Viola Fügen, Michael Weber (MFP) Sinan, a young lieutenant in the Turkish army, must hand over his brother Kenan to a military court. CHAOS AND SILENCE (CHAOS UND STILLE) Director: Anatol Schuster / Fiction / Germany / Spring 2024 Production: Anatol Schuster (Zwilling Film) A woman sits on a roof. A composer searches for silence. A pianist gives away a grand piano. A city is out of balance. The new film by Anatol Schuster (FRAU STERN). ETERNAL PEACE (Věčný klid) Director: Vojtěch Strakatý / Drama / Czech Republic / Second Quarter 2024 Production: Marek Novák (Xova Film) Carefree Jindřiška (23) discovers that her father has run up huge debts, when debt collectors come to their house. During one day, Jindřiška’s world crumbles and she must decide whether to help her family or save herself before it’s too late. FANON (presented in the frame of FOCUS ON BENELUX and FOCUS ON AFRICA) Director: Jean-Claude Barny / Biopic / France, Tunisia, Luxembourg / Fall 2024 Production: Sébastien Onomo (Special Touch Studios) A biopic at the heart of the Algerian war, in which Martinican psychiatrist Frantz Fanon fights against colonization. GERMAINE ACOGNY – ROMANCING THE SHADOW (GERMAINE ACOGNY – VOM SCHATTEN SCHWÄRMEN) (presented Out of Competition in the frame of FOCUS ON AFRICA) Director: Greta Marie Becker / Feature Documentary / Germany, France, Senegal / 2024 Production: Martina Haubrich (Cala Filmproduktion GmbH) Germaine Acogny is not only the “Mother of African Contemporary Dance”, but also one of the most important artistic voices in Africa. The combination of traditional dances and contemporary movements of the Western world has made her the dancing icon of an entire continent. HOUSES (BATIM) (presented in the frame of TorinoFilmLab Coming Soon) Director: Veronica Nicole Tetelbaum / Drama / Israel / May 2024 Production: Elad Gavish (Marker Films), Adi Navon (Nova Productions) Sasha, a 28-year-old non-binary person, sets out on a journey of self-discovery while taking on his troubled memories of growing up in Safed. IMPATIENCE OF THE HEART (UNGEDULD DES HERZENS) Director: Lauro Cress / Drama / Germany / March 2024 Production: Lorenzo Gandolfo (Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin GmbH) Driven by a quest for purpose, a young soldier feigns love for a disabled woman, fueling her hope of recovery. However, with her growing suspicion and his deepening fixation, it sets off a destructive cycle, ensuing everyone in tragedy. INVISIBLE Director: Adele Tulli / Feature Documentary / Italy, France / Spring 2024 Production: Laura Romano (Film Affair) Smartphones and computers are no longer just devices that we use. They have become the place where we live: how much has our relationship with the physical world changed? NOTHING IN ITS PLACE Director: Burak Çevik / Drama, Thriller / Turkey, Germany, France, Republic of Korea / 2024 Produktion: İpek Erden (Vayka Film) Inspired by a true story, “Nothing in Its Place” tells the story of what happens to 5 young people who believed in an unarmed socialist revolution in 1978. In the middle of the night, 2 right-wing youths raid the meeting and decide to kill them. PACIFICO’S DAUGHTER (La Hija del Pacífico) Director: Juan Olea / Fiction / Chile, Uruguay, Mexico, Germany / May 2024 Production: Francisco Hervé (Juntos Films), Virginia Bogliolo (Tarkio Film), Juan Bernardo González (Whisky Content), Tom Schreiber (Plotlessfilm) In the Atacama Desert, a girl and her father secretly exploit a gold mine. When the father is injured, the girl must take his place and confront a group of miners who want to take the mine from them. RESTLESS (RASTLOS) (presented in the frame of FOCUS ON BENELUX) Director: Elmar Imanov / Drama / Germany, Italy, Luxembourg / Spring 2024 Production: Eva Blondiau (Color of May) In a magic realistic world, Bernard, a troubled young man, seeks the closeness of his father Carlos, who refuses a life-saving operation. His approaching death causes Bernard to reevaluate his environment and himself. SECOND HAND LAND (ZWEITLAND) Director: Michael Kofler / Drama / Germany, Italy, Austria / Fall, Winter 2024 Production: Wasiliki Bleser (Starhaus Filmproduktion GmbH), Martin Rattini (Helios Sustainable Films), Gabriele Kranzelbinder (KGP Filmproduktion GmbH) During the 1961 wave of terror in South Tyrol: The much sought-after admission to the academy of arts within reach, Paul gets drawn into a vicious circle of violence, forbidden desire and loyalty conflict. SIMAS SONG (presented in the frame of FOCUS ON BENELUX) Director: Roya Sadat / Drama / The Netherlands, Spain, France, Taiwan / January 2024 Production: Alba Sotorra With the Afghan civil war about to break out, young, lifelong friends Suraya (communist, wealthy) and Sima (humble, Muslim) must question their life choices and moral principles when they get involved in opposite sides of the political turmoil. STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT (Stranci u noći) Director: Ivona Juka / Drama / Croatia / January 2024 Production: Anita Juka (4Film) “Strangers in the Night” is a story about LGBT filmmakers in the 1950s who fought for their liberty and freedom of speech in the oppressed society of communist Yugoslavia. THE BEST REWARD (LA COSA MIGLIORE) (presented in the frame of TorinoFilmLab Coming Soon) Director: Federico Ferrone / Drama / Italy / March, April 2024 Production: Simone Bachini, Mario Chemello (Apapaja) The story of 17-year old Mattia: From Italian hip-hop to radical Islam. When the quest for meaning leads to the temptation of violence. THE BOOK OF JOY (SELON JOY) Director: Camille Lugan / Fiction / France / September 2024 Production: Saïd Hamich Benlarbi (Barney Production) Joy (27) is an orphan reared by Father Leonard living her faith with intensity. One day, she meets a young stranger, Andrei. Soon, she becomes convinced their paths were meant to cross. THE COWARDLY BEAUTY (DIE FEIGE SCHÖNHEIT) Director: Moritz Krämer / Drama / Germany / 2024 Production: Jost Hering (Jost Hering Filme) Kesse loves nothing more than skating – and May. Kesse’s passion for skating and their love for May takes an unexpected turn when they accidentally cause the death of May’s annoying little brother Pepe. THE NEW ILLUSION (LA NOUVELLE ILLUSION) (presented in the frame of TorinoFilmLab Coming Soon) Director: Jasmin Gordon / Drama / Switzerland / Spring 2024 Production: Brigitte Hofer (maximage) Jule, a rebel mother on the brink of financial disaster, will stop at nothing to find a home for her family. THE NIGHT BEFORE EASTER (ለፋሲካ ለሊት) (presented in the frame of FOCUS ON AFRICA) Director: Dagim Sissay / Drama / Ethiopia / April 2024 Production: Bereket Werede (History Film Company) On the eve of Easter in Addis Ababa, a traditional artist and a modern party goer, who seem worlds apart, form a powerful bond amidst the city’s vibrant nightlife. THE SHAMELESS Director: Konstantin Bojanov / Drama / Switzerland, Bulgaria, France, Taiwan / May 2024 Production: Palmyre Badinier (Akka Films), Rossitsa Valakanova (Klas Films) Frédéric Corves (Urban Group), Maéva Savinien (Urban Group), Vincent Wang (House on Fire) Nadira (27) escapes in the middle of the night from a Delhi brothel after stabbing an abusive cop to death. She takes a temporary shelter in a Southern-Indian devadasi community of sex workers, assuming the Hindu name Renuka. There, she falls in love with the emotionally fragile 17-year-old Devika, prompting her rebellion against her mother and the oppressive centuries-old institution of religious dedications. THE SONG OF BREATHING (IL CANTO DEL RESPIRO) Director: Simona Canonica / Feature Documentary / Switzerland, Italy / 2024 Production: Amel Soudani (Amka Films) An immersive journey through three distant cultures, retracing the steps that give rise to the breath of life: its primeval discovery, the circularity of breathing, the harmony of song, the colour of each single voice and the connection with the innermost part of the self. A pathway of growth from the originating dream to its transformation into tradition and culture, now preserved as part of the heritage of humankind. THE WOLVES ALWAYS COME AT NIGHT Director: Gabrielle Brady / Feature Documentary / Mongolia, Australia, Germany / February 2024 Production: Julia Niethammer (Chromosom Film), Rita Walsh (Over Here Productions), Ariunaa Tserenpil (Guru Media) Forced to leave their farmland due to increasingly harsh weather conditions, a nomadic Mongolian family struggles to adjust to their new lives in the rapidly growing city of Ulaanbaatar. TRANSAMAZONIA Director: Pia Marais / Drama / France, Germany, Switzerland, Brazil, Taiwan / 2024 Production: Claudia Steffen (Pandora Film Produktion), Christoph Friedel (Pandora Film Produktion), Sophie Erbs (GAÏJIN) Lawrence and his daughter Rebecca, missionaries in the Amazon Rainforest, are drawn into an escalating conflict between the Indigenous tribe they are evangelising and marauding loggers invading the indigenous land. TURNING TABLES (KLANDESTIN) Director: Angelina Maccarone / Political Drama / Germany / 2024 Production: Martina Haubrich, Claudia Schröter (Cala Film) With the help of the British artist Richard, Young rapper Malik leaves Morocco for the EU, where he ends up living in the basement of conservative EU politician Mathilda, of all people. Her assistant Amina, tired of being labelled “second generation migrant” is delegated as his cultural “mediator”. Four perspectives, one story. VENA Director: Chiara Fleischhacker / Drama / Germany / 2024 Production: Martin Rohé, Svenja Vanhoefer, Sophie Kühne (Neue Bioskop Film GmbH) Jenny and her boyfriend Bolle not only share the high of crystal meth, but also the anticipation of having a baby. When midwife Marla enters her life, Jenny faces her fears and experiences a feeling of self-determination for the first time – only one decision is no longer in her hands. WATERDROP (PIKË UJI) Director: Robert Budina / Drama / Albania, Romania, Italy, Kosovo, North Macedonia / January 2024 Production: Sabina Kodra (Era Film), Carmen Rizac (Avanpost) Aida, 45 years old, city hall manager in Pogradec by the shore of Ohrid Lake has to fight against the infernal machine of a corrupt system, of which she’s herself part of, when her teenage son Mark becomes involved in a gang rape scandal that could send him to jail.
