Feb 24, 2020
Projects with Potential: Three Prizes and 1,500 Meetings at the Berlinale Co-Production Market

At the Berlinale Co-Production Market (February 22 to 26), three cash prizes have been awarded to selected feature film projects.

The Eurimages Co-Production Development Award, endowed with 20,000 Euros, went to the project There Are Two Kinds of People in This World (directed by Onur Saylak) on Sunday evening, presented by production companies Liman Film and b.i.t arts from Turkey. With the award, the European film funding organisation Eurimages supports the further development of the project. A Special Mention went to Electric Child, to be directed by Simon Jaquemet from Switzerland, and produced by 8horses. The jury members this year were the film fund representative Elena Kotová (Czech Republic), the producer Giorgos Karnavas (Greece) and the world sales representative Marie-Pierre Vallé (France).

Two further prizes, which have also been established at the Berlinale Co-Production Market for years, were awarded today: With the VFF Talent Highlight Award in the amount of 10,000 Euros, the VFF – Verwertungsgesellschaft der Film und Fernsehproduzenten (Film and Television Producers Rights Association – is supporting the project The Last Paradise on Earth (directed by Sakaris Stórá) from the Faroe Islands, which was presented at the Berlinale Co-Production Market by producer Jón Hammer. Already since 2004, the VFF has been awarding a promising young talent project from the “Talent Project Market”, which the Berlinale Co-Production Market organises in cooperation with Berlinale Talents. The producers Deepak Rauniyar from Nepal and Diana Almeida from Brazil were nominated this year. They also pitched their projects to participants in the Berlinale Co-Production Market and each received a prize of 1,000 Euros.

This year, the ARTEKino International Prize goes to The Melting, the project of the Belgian director Veerle Baetens, produced by Savage Film. With this award, which is endowed with 6,000 Euros, ARTE honours an artistically outstanding project of the Berlinale Co-Production Market.

At the 17th Berlinale Co-Production Market, the producers of the 36 selected feature film projects meet with co-producers and financiers. More than 1,500 one-on-one meetings with potentially suitable partners among the almost 600 participants were carefully planned in advance. Books for film adaptations and series projects are also presented. They are the focus of the pitch events “Books at Berlinale” and “Co-Pro Series”. Over 300 films and series that have been looking for partners at the Berlinale Co-Production Market within the past few years have now been completed. Two of them are part of the Berlinale programme this year.

The principal partners of the Berlinale Co-Production Market are the MDM - Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung and the Creative Europe - MEDIA Programme of the European Union.

The venue, and a further partner, is the Berlin House of Representatives.

The Berlinale Co-Production Market is part of the European Film Market.

Press Office
February 24, 2020