Jan 14, 2022
A Boost for 34 attractive Feature Film Projects: Berlinale Co-Production Market Finds International Partners and Financiers for the Film Hits of Tomorrow

34 selected feature film projects from 32 countries will be presented at the 19th Berlinale Co-Production Market (February 12 to 16).

As in 2021, this year’s event will take place online. The aim is to limit physical contacts in the current situation, while still creating an efficient and relaxed setting for meetings.

The producers of the projects will meet potential international co-producers, world sales agents, TV broadcasters, funding representatives, streaming platforms and distributors, as well as other financing partners from all over the world. The Berlinale Co-Production Market’s successful concept is to provide carefully pre-planned meetings for a select portfolio of projects.

Evidence of successful scouting for subsequent hit films, for example, is Radu Jude's Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, which was presented at the 2020 Berlinale Co-Production Market and won the Golden Bear in the 2021 Berlinale Competition. Now the director is presenting a new project. The selection also includes much-anticipated new film projects by Agnieszka Holland, Burhan Qurbani, Sophie Hyde, Bence Fliegauf, Teona Mitevska, Nariman Aliev, Nathalie Álvarez-Mesén, Carlo Sironi, Milagros Mumenthaler, Ognjen Glavonić and Ivan Ostrochovský.

“This time around, biographies of a special kind are a focus that particularly caught our eye during selection. A wide range of narrative approaches is used, from hybrid and collage-like to satirical, and that makes these projects particularly exciting. But purely fictional stories, from horror to comedy, won't be missing out, either,” says the head of the Berlinale Co-Production Market, Martina Bleis. “As with the many highly successful projects of recent years – for example, Quo Vadis, Aida? by Jasmila Žbanić, Compartment No.6 by Juho Kuosmanen, or Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn – we hope to give 2022's projects a real boost on their way to cinema screens and audiences.”

The official project selection chose 19 feature film projects with budgets between 500,000 Euros and 6 million Euros from a total of 295 submissions. In addition, there are four projects in the early stages of financing in the “Berlinale Directors” section, whose directors – Burhan Qurbani, Udita Bhargava, Radu Jude and the Iranian duo Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha – have already shown successful films at the festival. Another film project, Love on Trial by Koji Fukada from Japan, is looking for partners as part of the “Rotterdam-Berlinale Express” at both CineMart Rotterdam and the Berlinale Co-Production Market. The percentage of female directors in these projects is 45,8 percent.

In the “Talent Project Market” organised in cooperation with Berlinale Talents, ten international producers from all over the world, still in the first decade of their careers, will present their latest projects. These were selected from a further 135 submissions and are also on the lookout for international partners.

The selection for "Co-Pro Series" will be announced soon.

Internationally experienced producers and financiers looking for co-production projects were able to register for the Berlinale Co-Production Market up until December. Further information at:

www.berlinale-coproductionmarket.de

The Berlinale Co-Production Market is supported by MDM – Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung and the European Union’s Creative Europe – MEDIA Programme.

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

Official Selection of Projects Berlinale Co-Production Market 2022
(in alphabetical order of production companies):

- Mehal Sefari (director: Abraham Gezahagne), Abricom Multimedia, Ethiopia & Gobez Media, Canada/Ethiopia

- Las Corrientes (director: Milagros Mumenthaler), Alina Film, Switzerland & Ruda Cine, Argentina

- The Paris Project (director: Arno Salters), Beluga Tree, Belgium

- Jimpa (director: Sophie Hyde), Closer Productions, Australia

- Mother (director: Teona Strugar Mitevska), Entre chien et Loup, Belgium

- Ortalan (director: Nariman Aliev), ForeFilms, Ukraine

- The Wolf Will Tear Your Immaculate Hands (director: Nathalie Álvarez Mesén), Hobab, Sweden & Resolve Media, USA

- The Wind Also Sings (director: Hadi Ghandour), Incognito Films & Virginie Films, France

- Bonefever (director: Bence Fliegauf), Inforg-M&M Film & Fraktál Film, Hungary

- 20,000 Species of Bees (director: Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren), Inicia Films & Gariza Films, Spain

- The Difficult Bride (director: Rubaiyat Hossain), Khona Talkies, Bangladesh

- Truly Madly Deeply (director: Carlo Sironi), Kino Produzioni, Italy

- Yellow Letters (director: İlker Catak), Liman Film, Turkey & if… Productions, Germany

- Slow (director: Marija Kavtaradze), M-Films, Lithuania

- Texas Soul Sister (director: Pascale Lamche), Maneki Films & Haut Et Court Doc, France

- Kafka (director: Agnieszka Holland), Marlene Film Production, Czech Republic & Film and Music Entertainment, United Kingdom / Ireland

- In the Shadow of the Horns (director: Ognjen Glavonić), Non-Aligned Films, Serbia

- Virginia Woolf’s Night & Day (director: Tina Gharavi), Piccadilly Pictures & Asterisk Films, United Kingdom

- The Spring (director: Ivan Ostrochovský), Punkchart Films, Slovakia

“Berlinale Directors” Projects:

- My Favourite Cake (directors: Maryam Moghaddam & Behtash Sanaeeha), Caractères Productions, France & Honare Khiyal, Iran

- Heia, Heia, Safari! (director: Radu Jude), jip Film & Verleih, Germany & Micro Film, Romania

- Eunuch (director: Udita Bhargava), Schiwago Film, Germany

- No Beast So Fierce (director: Burhan Qurbani), Sommerhaus Filmproduktion, Germany

“Rotterdam-Berlinale Express”:

- Love on Trial (director: Koji Fukada), Knockonwood, Japan & Survivance, France

“Talent Project Market” – Projects and Selected Producer-Talents
(in alphabetical order of production companies):

- Breed (director: Kate Dolan), Blinder Films (producer: Evan Horan), Ireland

- The Trials of Alien Life (director: Ian Lagarde), Colonelle Films (producer: Sarah Mannering), Canada

- Girls Will Be Girls (director: Shuchi Talati), Crawling Angel Films (producer: Pooja Chauhan), India

- Available Now (director: Assaf Machnes), KM Productions (producer: Kobi Mizrahi), Israel

- Sadrack (director: Narcisse Wandji), Les Films d'Ebène (producer: Evodie N. Ngueyeli), Cameroon

- Lucky Strikes (director: Vivienne Vaughn), MHK Productions (producer: Maya Korn), USA

- Don't Cry, Butterfly (director: Duong Dieu Linh), Momo Film Co (producer: Tan Si En), Singapore & Vietnam

- Hana Korea (director: Frederik Sølberg), Seesaw Pictures (producer: Heejung Oh), South Korea & Denmark

- Cachalote (director: Angelo Defanti), Sobretudo Produção (producer: Bárbara Defanti), Brazil

- Kevlar Soul (director: Maria Eriksson-Hecht), Zentropa Sweden (producer: Ronny Fritsche), Sweden

Press Office
January 14, 2022