The Orthodox priest Mikhail (25 years old) realizes that he has been chosen to audition for the lead role of a Catholic priest, Father Angel, in a large television series. His father, Father Alen (59 years old), is a devout lover of cinema and an unsuccessful actor himself. Alen follows his son through the church as they prepare for Sunday service. He is thrilled by the opportunity that has presented itself to his son and persuades him to attend the audition, regardless of the concerns and fears that have overcome him. Mikhail seeks solace and isolation in their garden, which is in a sorry state, but Alen follows him with a photo of Alain Delon dressed as a priest and tells him that this is the role that inspired his two passions - cinema and religion - and helped him fall in love and win Mikhail’s late mother…
Long synopsis can be found on the deck attached or here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/ 1l7AVoCr2X0hjizCzgVjU0iWOCj-UtX8V/view?usp=share_link
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
The relationship between father and son is like that of a creator and his creation, or like that of a teacher and his student, or like that of a tyrant and a rebel. The list is long and never exhaustive. Their complexity is legendary, and when the female, the mother or sister, is absent, then the clash is inevitable. Even in the case of Alen and Mikhail, people close to God, to their religion, are not spared from the psychological burden and the constant surges emanating from the unconscious…
On the surface, Mikhail is naive, idealistic, and soft. He is always ready to turn the other cheek and avoid conflict at any cost. He believes in idealized goodness and tries to build himself up as an ideal image. But deep inside him, doubts, passions, and fears are raging. He is so confused sexually that he is truly asexual. For years, he has punished himself and eradicated any appearance of passion inhimself, regardless of who it was directed towards. His love for a woman is limited to his love for the memory of his mother and his love for the Virgin Mary, expressed in the most prudent and dogmatic way…..
In depth statement can be found on the deck attached or here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/ 1l7AVoCr2X0hjizCzgVjU0iWOCj-UtX8V/view?usp=share_link
VISUAL CONCEPT
The project was created as a screenplay within a screenplay. The short scenes from the TV script carry a more different, sometimes pathetic, tone, while in contrast the main story moves towards a more colloquial, unfinished expression by most of the characters. I wouldn’t say authentic, because both are authentic for what they want to be and pursue as goals. The atmosphere inevitably changes when we immerse ourselves in the world of the TV series and Mikhail becomes Father Angel. He himself changes drastically and contributes to the distinct nuances of the scenes. I don’t think it’s necessary to further enhance the visual contrast between the stories. The locations, costumes, and energy of the characters themselves instantly immerse us in their own narrative.….
Stylistically, both screenplays should be shot identically. With chosen camera movements, more static shots that observe, rather than getting mixed up in the character and their emotions. Movements should be specific and always motivated. I rely heavily on the so-called “insert shots,” which direct the viewer’s attention to important elements or reactions from the world of the characters. In addition to the clean and specific camera work, the set design will be minimalist - reduced to what is necessary. Objects that the characters need or, as in the case of Mikhail’s room, objects that visualize a part of the character’s psyche…
Detailed visual concept can be found on the deck attached or here: https://drive.google.com/ file/ d/1l7AVoCr2X0hjizCzgVjU0iWOCj-UtX8V/view?usp=share_link
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro): 50 000 Euro
Secured funding (at time of application): 30 000 Euro (60% of budget)
Has the project received any funding so far? 30 000 Euro on 11th May 2022 by to be confirmed upon the financial commission of NFC. The project was awarded funding buy the creative commission but has yet to go through the financial commission to specify the exact amount awarded in June 2023 by NFC
Confirmed production, distribution or broadcasting partners: Kotva Films (Production Company Bulgaria
Other approached or potential partners: Pomme Hurlante (Production Company France)
From a correspondent of Bulgarian radio and television in Paris, Vladimir Kostov becomes a dissident, who seeks political asylum in France. He admits his collaboration with the most powerful and independent bureaucratic system, which provides legitimacy to the communist regime in Bulgaria, and his secret job as an officer of state security.
SYNOPSIS
The story follows the life of a Bulgarian journalist, who finds the only way to success in one socialist country such as Bulgaria during the 1970s. – to play by the rules of the communist regime. He is involved in a web of associates of State Security, known as “the invisible elite” whose main task is intelligence. The information he gained and his career-high post would never be possible without his collaboration with State Security. Despite his privileges and strong relations is impossible to defend the national interest of Bulgarians and provide objective information for his nation because of the rules of propaganda and increasingly strong ties of Bulgaria to Russia. Vladimir Kostov understands he serves political interest which takes over national one. Surprisingly for everyone, one of the most valuable journalists is leaving the country and breaking up with the regime and the Party.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
After reading the autobiography of Vladimir Kostov - “The Bulgarian Umbrella” I was inspired to develop the project “The Bureaucracy Machine”. It contains a very important message for our generation – to defend our freedom of speech and thought. Behind the lines, I found a confession of one contradictory person, who is ready to admit why he made a huge compromise with his own will to pursue professional and social status. By discovering the dark secrets of the past, we would be able to compare it with our current reality because the manipulations of the power is not only familiar to
the communist regime. At the end of the film, I want the audience to think about one central question – What do we lose when we win and is it worth it if we sacrifice our freedom? I am convinced this story of Vladimir Kostov is important for our time, because it proves how susceptible a person could be to the manipulations by the bureaucracy. Especially when such manipulations are disguised by the strict control of the administration.
VISUAL CONCEPT
The vision of the film is a composite to three different perspectives of Vladimir Kostov’s personality. For our conversation - interview, I chose three different locations. They will bring three kinds of different moods, the tempo of the scenes and messages. The main location is a studio with a simple and clear cinematic aesthetic. The low-key light will emphasize dramatic feeling, where we see the half-lightened face of Vladimir. This will indicate there is something hidden from us, which is very close to us, but is still mysterious. We use a static camera with close-ups with a focus on the eyes. V.K is looking directly into the lens of the camera. The other location is the radio, where Kostov had been working for a long time. This is the place where Kostov is truly sincere, the place of memories. But at the same time, this is one of the sources of propaganda. The media form public opinion and can be used as a weapon. This idea would inspire our visual code – the detail of rolling radio tape, which symbolizes the close circle of bureaucracy and power. The third location is the File Record Center, where Kostov reads his file record. The image of corridors of racks with many folders suggests order and strict conservatism. Here Kostov looks small in front of the countless documents that surround him.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro):
€ 18 000
Secured funding (at time of application): € 2000 (11,11% of budget)
Has the project received any funding so far? no
Other approached or potential partners: Balkan Documentary Center (potential) UNION OF BULGARIAN JOURNALISTS (potential)
The Bulgarian National Radio Network (approached)
THE PROJECT
ORIGINAL TITLE: БЪДНИ
ENGLISH TITLE: CHRISTMAS EVE
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: BULGARIA
DIRECTOR: ILINA PERIANOVA
SCREENWRITER: FRANCESCO FRATTINI
PRODUCER: PHOENIX PRODUCTION
GENRE: FICTION
SHOOTING FORMAT: HDK4 DIGITAL
DURATION: 20 min
LANGUAGE(S) OF DIALOGUES: BULGARIAN)
PLANNED DATES OF SHOOTING: 18 NOVEMBER –26 NOVEMBER 2023
Mama Ivana is a devoted, good hostess and mother who tries to celebrate Christmas Eve with her family according to the old traditions. However, no one respects her carefully prepared dinner and effort, and gradually the Holy Feast takes a mortal turn.
SYNOPSIS
It is the afternoon of Christmas Eve. The Goranov family’s house is decorated for Christmas, final preparations are underway, and delicious bread is being kneaded. The main character, IVANA (50), has been preparing the traditional dishes for Christmas Eve all day. She strives to follow the traditions obsessively. In absolute contrast to her is her family: her children are immersed in videogames and social networks, and her husband behaves arrogantly with her. Things get worse when the sister of Ivana’s husband and her family come to dinner. Nobody appreciates Ivana’s hard work, and they mock her cooking, outfit, and way of organizing. Without discerning any change in Ivana’s mood, the evening takes an unexpected turn. She puts poison in the dessert - the delicious baklava that she has cooked for her family.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
Alienation, the disintegration of the family as a unit in modern society, and the lack of communication are the main themes discussed in “Christmas Eve”. The film will also be a warning, a kind of fairy tale about the decay of morality in a society in which everyone seeks the quick satisfaction of the lowest needs and an empty display of external beauty. The main character Ivana is the role model of a devoted mother and wife; she is a guardian of old family values. Her image does not fit in today’s hightech society, where it is fashionable to be arrogant, popular, and always active on social networks.
The script predisposes to the creation of a genre film styled as psychological horror. Ivana’s revenge is symbolically like the poison that has eaten away at her insides all these years, the poison taking the form of a sauce over everyone’s favorite baklava. In this aspect, my directorial references are the works of Yorgos Lanthimos and Ari Astaire’s incredible Midsomar.
VISUAL CONCEPT
The atmosphere at the beginning of the film will be seemingly light and Christmassy, but as the action progresses, the colors will become more and more contrasting and bright. Through the lighting, the shadows that hide in the corner of the room—the shadows that hide in Ivana’s soul—will gradually emerge. The most strongly accented color will be red, which, in the course of the action, will enter more and more into the scenography, costumes, and make-up of the actors. On the one hand, it will be justified because of the seemingly Christmas atmosphere; on the other hand, it will create a feeling of tension and psychologically prepare the viewer for the horror finale.
Visually, Ivana will always be separated from her family. She is alone in the frame, while the other characters are grouped together. The editing will be smooth, gradually becoming more dynamic. It will follow the inner state of the main character and her complete isolation in an environment where her family becomes enemies. The finale of the film will skillfully use lighting to create frightening images of the shadows, the things that lurk in the dark of Ivana’s soul. The viewer will be left with the feeling that, inevitably, she will be gradually swallowed up by the darkness.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro):
€ 60,660
Secured funding (at time of application): € 12,132 (20% of budget)
When the 10 years old biker Christiana attempts to win the upcoming bike racing competition between her and her friends, she soon realizes that the safe family she once knew is falling apart around her and the race is gonna be a battle zone for her where she has to face all her fears alone- a mysterious monster on the racing track and her family’s unexpected separation.
SYNOPSIS
Ten years old Christiana has a big dream to become a professional biker like her father. She wants to win the upcoming bike racing competition between her and her friends and proves that girls can be even more talented bicycle bikers than the boys. However there is a forest on the racing track where a mysterious Monster lives, standing between Christiana and the finish line. Christiana is deeply scared and timid and only her father’s support can help her not to give up. One day, he leaves the family home unexpectedly with no explanation. Soon Christiana realises that he has an affair and is not coming back to support her for the race. She is left with her mother, who is not going to support her either and wants a divorce. This leads to a strong conflict between them and Christiana blames her mum, who has addictions about all that. Christiana decides to catch the Monster herself and win. She faces all her fears alone, including the “monster” that lives within. The family will never be the same again when Christiana and her mother become closer than ever. At the end the girl finds out that there isn’t a Monster in the forest but someone who is real and pretends to be the Monster and thus makes her almost give up on the race. Everyone has a dream but after all she is the one to win.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
I strongly believe in dreams and that everything is reachable when you have a strong will and the chance to ‘shine’. "COME BACK" is a film about just that. The film explores the main character’s fears (Christiana’s) against her strong will to win in a family which falls apart unexpectedly.
The film is already a cause for me to encourage every kind of dreamer to dream but not to give up. I believe that dreams could ‘heal‘ and make us special because it’s all about mind set after all. We are all someone’s children and we all need support. If we listen carefully to what the child within everyone of us says, then we are already ‘winners’.
I consider my film COME BACK as a ‘bridge’ between generations that leads to a better world and encourages children to do sports. I am very happy to have the chance to write it, feel it and share it to the world.
"COME BACK" shows the power of a young growing female striving in a crazy mixed up world. I hope that "In The Palace" Short Film Festival, Bulgaria will consider the film as a future collaboration with its big potential for success here in Bulgaria and World Wide
VISUAL CONCEPT
GREENS to reflect nature, also the color of envy which we see rearing its head between Christy’s parents and also with Christy admiring her dad’s achievements BROWNS to match the warmth of nature and life which empathize with Christiana’ s feelings GOLD/ YELLOWS to match the shine of her dreams.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro):
€ 65 000
Secured funding (at time of application): € 5000 (Producer’s own investment for the postproduction) ( … % of budget)
THE PROJECT
ORIGINAL TITLE:
ENGLISH TITLE: DON’T FLATTER YOURSELF
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: BULGARIA
DIRECTOR: MICHAELA ROGACHEVA
SCREENWRITER: MICHAELA ROGACHEVA
PRODUCER: DELYANA ANGELOVA
GENRE: FICTION
SHOOTING FORMAT: 16:9
DURATION: 17 min
LANGUAGE(S) OF DIALOGUES: BULGARIAN
PLANNED DATES OF SHOOTING: 25TH OF SEPTEMBER –2ND OF OCTOBER
Short movie about the relationship between three generations of a broken family, heavily influenced by American culture in post-communistic Bulgaria.
SYNOPSIS
Ana and Angel, an already elderly couple, are separating at last, Angel willing to spend his final years in a nursing home. Through a retrospective, we see a brief story of their past – of their happy, jazzy, not very rich, but surely semi-bohemian life as a couple in Bulgaria, secretly influenced by the mid-20th century American culture. Parallel to their story, Katya’s and Nina’s reality is untwisted. In post-communism Bulgaria, Katya, who’s not close to her parents, struggles to get through everyday life, being burdened with the mafia debts her husband left on her name. Being impossible for her to provide normally for Nina, she leaves the girl with her grandparents for a while. This, unexpectedly, turns out to be one of her best decisions as the family slowly becomes close again.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
I believe that this movie deserves to be made because it is a little unusual representation of Bulgarian characters. It aims to be simple yet fulfilling and humane. It strives to show how beauty is hidden in the little things and sometimes the most important messages between people are being transferred during plain, everyday–life conversations, which, at first sight, might even seem insignificant. It implies that even in the darkest of times, there is a way to live your life light-hearted and hopeful, there is a way to inspire others and help them fly. The story is a drama, but I like to think of it as one, being pinched with a little comedy, irony, and warmth as well. It is supposed to be light, hopeful, and touching.
VISUAL CONCEPT
My biggest visual inspirations are from the work of Roy Anderson, Wes Anderson, Taika Waititi, and Liev Schreiber. For most of the action, I imagine being put in single, stable, or push-in shots, wide-angled. The characters are quirky, wearing bright colors, and dressing formally even when not necessary. The world of the characters looks a bit staged, cozy, and dreamy because it is a representation of their inner life not of the reality around them.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro): € 12 500
Secured funding (at time of application): no secured funding
Has the project received any funding so far? none
The amount received (in Euro): no
Confirmed production, distribution or broadcasting partners: Visionary Foundation
Other approached or potential partners: Kinematograf - kinematograf.bg / potential Rife Foundation - rifefoundation.org / potential New Bulgarian University – nbu.bg / potential
CONTACT DETAILS
THE PROJECT
ORIGINAL TITLE: ENCRYPTED LOVE
ENGLISH TITLE: ENCRYPTED LOVE
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: BULGARIA
DIRECTOR: LYUBOMIR DUTSOLOV - LUBA6KY
SCREENWRITER: LYUBOMIR DUTSOLOV - LUBA6KY
PRODUCER: FILM FRAME COMPANY E.O.O.D. –YANITSA LAZAROVA
GENRE: FICTION / DRAMA
SHOOTING FORMAT: 4K
DURATION: 12 min
LANGUAGE(S) OF DIALOGUES: W/O DIALOGUES
PLANNED DATES OF SHOOTING: 15th of SEPTEMBER 2023 (can be move in depends of funding)
A deaf-mute woman finds the love of her life through a secret method of communication in front of everyone.
SYNOPSIS
At the end of her work day, Annie is sitting at a bus stop in the city center waiting for the bus. A young man gets on the bus at the next stop and sits near Annie. He smiles at her and seems to be willing to start a conversation but Annie simply smiles back. Annie travel again with the bus and dozes off and wakes up just before it’s time to get off. Seeing the misted-up spot on the window from her breath, she draws a sad face on it. The next evening, Annie receives an answer to her drawing, again on the window. This is how Annie starts to communicate with a stranger via words and signs on the misted bus window. After some time the bus line is suspended and the two can no longer communicate. This makes Annie miserable but she decides to find a solution. After long communication via bus windows Annie is into a restaurant where a young man is awaiting her. In the last scene we see them talking busily in sign language.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
In the story of Encrypted Love nature has put an obstacle in the path of love but true love always finds a way to overcome any obstacle. The main character - Annie is deaf and she has only that - her eyes - but she doesn’t know it yet. For a deaf person that is definitely a challenge and it provides the viewer with the possibility to take a peek into the world of these people who live among us, yet we
give little thought to what it’s like to live like that and even less thought to what finding love is like. This is a classic story seen through the modern- times prism with all its problems and reasoning. In its essence, though, the striving of the main character is absolutely authentic and the obstacles she faces are the same as those any of us would face, even if they have been magnified for the purposes of the story. It is exactly these authentic human issues that have been the object of my interest for years and form the core of my motivation to shoot this film.
VISUAL CONCEPT
The lack of dialogue in the film is intentional. It is a means to a better understanding of the quiet world in which Annie is living. The absence of dialogue allows for the use of various cinematographic and composition techniques with the help of which the main character’s emotional state is emphasized. Annie is often seen alone, “locked” within the static negative space of the frame. This clearly conveys to the viewer the message of how lonely and isolated she feels. In terms of creativity, the greatest focus will be put on details in Annie’s apartment and office. Attention to finer details will assist in defining Annie’s character more clearly and also in getting a better understanding of the world that she lives in. I believe that a convincing world of the character, set up with clear and interesting rules, lies in the heart of any film. It is exactly our desire to immerse ourselves in that convincing world, that provides one of the main reasons for us to watch a film.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro): € 23 000
Secured funding (at time of application):
Has the project received any funding so far? no
Confirmed production, distribution or broadcasting partners:
Hercules – a gift from dad’ is a plasticine animated short which introduces the modern days version of the Ancient Greek hero- Hercules. He is faced with the challenge of resisting the temptation to open Pandora’s box, the gift from his father- Zeus. Despite his inhuman efforts and in a moment of distraction he opens the box and the consequences of his actions unfold…
SYNOPSIS
The short movie starts off with Hercules receiving a parcel from an unknown sender. He examines the package in his living room prior to opening it. Inside he finds a note from his father Zeus, saying that he is sending Pandora’s box to him to protect it. The demigod agrees and moves on with his chores. During them Hercules envisions the box on multiple occasions and that results in him: dropping the doghouse while cleaning in the backyard, him fighting with the shower head in the bathroom and his scare in the kitchen. After some time Hercules is somewhere unknown where the gigantic version of the box lures him inside it and he falls in his bedroom because it was all a dream. He then leaves it and goes in the living room, fights his urges but due to a distraction opens the box. From it Zeus pops up admitting it was all a joke, Hercules ends up returning the favor by closing Zeus back in the box.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
‘Hercules – a gift from dad’ is an animated short rooted in the personal appreciation of the Ancient Greek mythological world. I have encountered different readings of the character of Hercules and have been attracted to the Disney animated version of Hercules as a movie and series and the live action series with Kevin Sorbo. What differentiates this Hercules is his presence not in the myth but in today’s scenario and his evolution from the well-known hero to a more approachable and closer to normal human. The story is driven by humor and all the visual gags will be humor oriented. Alongside the goal to entertain the project aims to bring value in the sense of sparking interest to the viewer towards the origin of the characters, Pandora’s box and the visual resemblance of the situations to mythological scenarios- the three dogs forming somewhat Cerberus and etc.
VISUAL CONCEPT
The visuals of the project will involve elements both from Ancient Greece and nowadays. The appropriate technique which is in unison with that concept is plasticine animation as it is part of the old mediums yet has that vividness and colouness to help convey the message. The palette will be oriented around: black figure ceramics from Greece: black, orange, red, brown, the architecture of modern Greece having white and blue as primary colours and other complimentary ones- green, purple and etc. The multiplane camera used by Disney, Warner Brothers and others will be used in the project as well and just like the animations from the 50s and 60s will situate the background on a separate layer and the character will engage with it in necessary situations. Hercules will be the mixing character of back then and today having elements of both in him.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro):
€ 11 000
Secured funding (at time of application): 64,7% of budget
Has the project received any funding so far?
Confirmed production, distribution or broadcasting partners:
€ 7117 on 08.2022 by National fund of Culture, Bulgaria
At this stage the only distribution channel which will be used for the project is based on personal research for festivals on the platform Film Free Way.
THE PROJECT
ORIGINAL TITLE: В
ENGLISH TITLE: IN THE NAME OF THE SON
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: BULGARIA
DIRECTOR: NIKOLAY URUMOV
SCREENWRITER: NIKOLAY URUMOV
PRODUCER: NIKOLAY URUMOV
GENRE: FICTION
SHOOTING FORMAT: 2,35:1
DURATION: 25 min
LANGUAGE(S) OF DIALOGUES: BULGARIAN (possible foreign language)
Two boys and a girl hit a man with their car and run away from the crime scene. Despite their conflicting accounts of the accident, the father of one of the boys who is a policeman, manages to establish that his son was behind the wheel. The right thing to do is clear enough, until the victim dies and his father, in turn, begins his search for the truth about the death of his son.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
I have always been interested in the mysterious and inexplicable aspects of life and I have always tried to explore them and make films where these have a part to play. My graduation project, „The Immortal“, explored the line between reality and illusion, the way the human mind tries to process it, and it offers a new perspective of good and evil.
The story in the project for the short film „In the Name of the Son“, three teenagers have their own take on reality and believe they have been attacked by someone who is not human. Their illusion is at odds with the adults’ take on the event and this creates a conflict. Despite the fact the story revolves around the teens’ accounts of the bizarre event, which involves their actually committing a crime, the real question explored is how far a parent’s care and love can go when it comes to protecting one’s child. A man is torn between his duty as a policeman and his love as a parent. He has to make a moral choice: to either help his son get away with committing a crime, or be honest and tell the truth to the victim’s father. The second layer of the story deals with how teenagers perceive the world today. Social media and video games distort reality by creating a gap between the imaginary and the real world. It’s our responsibility to close this gap and provide a healthier environment for our children.
FILMER FORGE PITCH 2023
VISUAL CONCEPT
The story consists of two parts: a realistic one, depicting the dynamics between teenagers and their parents, and another one, depicting the actual accident, which somewhat ghostly and mystical. The parallel storytelling help to build suspense while prompting the audience to ask questions. Visually, both parts will be different in terms of lighting, colour palette, sharpness, framing, sound design. The realistic part will be classically realized, while the ghostly one will rely on contrast lighting and a lot of silhouettes and shadows. The colour palette will be dominated by green, and wide lenses will be used, as well as low camera angles, and distorted and delayed sound, to build a sense of mystery. The entire accident will be shown from the vantage point of the teenagers – we will stay in the car the entire time – in order to create a feeling of claustrophobia and fear.
The music in this project is extremely important. It will be the hidden character in building the suspense.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro): € 90 000
Secured funding (at time of application): € 2000 (3 % of budget)
Has the project received any funding so far?: No
Confirmed production, distribution or broadcasting partners
BTV media group – letter of intent
Other approached or potential partners: Secured co-production with technical equipment 3500 eur. – Magic shop LTD
Laura is a young woman working in a snack bar where she meets every day a handsome but strange man, who is a regular customer. Being shy, introverted and interested mainly in his books, he doesn`t notice her at all. One day she dares to approach him and makes him a sudden and heartbreaking love confession. The choice he makes leads to a sequence of unexpected events and monstruous (re) actions.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
What genre is Love? Can it start as romantic drama, move to farce, culminate as psychological thriller and end as horror? And all that captured in a film 15 minutes short?
The title of the movie is based on a memory from my early adolescence about a simple but supposedly highly effective love spell. One had to write on a wall or wood carve the first letter of own name plus the first letter of the name of one`s crush followed by the incantation EIL (an abbreviation standing for Eternal Inseparable Love). The magic equation looked as follows: Х+Y=ЕIL.
The idea of the script is inspired by the nostalgy for the innocence of my adolescent love. My director`s drive is to explore what happens to pure romantic feelings when facing the cynical contemporary world. As nothing is sacred anymore. Neither Love. Nor Death.
L+T is a movie about the genesis of a Monster.
FILMER
VISUAL CONCEPT
The movie L+T is a contemporary anti-tale. The visual concept will follow the look of a fairy tale movie by the use of bright and warm colors for the sets and the costumes in order to evoke an idyllic feel. The fairy tale vision will be in harmony with the beginning of the storyline but after the cruel plot twist, it will go more and more in contrast with the events, producing a powerful emotional experience.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro): € 13 000 -15 000
Secured funding (at time of application): € 5000 (33-38% of the budget) by Emajick Productions
Confirmed production, distribution or broadcasting partners: Not yet Other approached or potential partners: NATIONAL CULTURE FUND, Bulgaria
CONTACT DETAILS
THE PROJECT
ORIGINAL TITLE: ОСТОВИД - ДУХ ОТ ПЛАНИНАТА
ENGLISH TITLE: LYNX - SPIRIT FROM THE MOUNTAIN
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: BULGARIA
DIRECTOR: STEFAN VOYVODOV
SCREENWRITER: STEFAN VOYVODOV
PRODUCER: STEFAN VOYVODOV
GENRE: DOCUMENTARY
SHOOTING FORMAT: DIGITAL /16:9
DURATION: 20 min
LANGUAGE(S) OF DIALOGUES: BULGARIAN
PLANNED DATES OF SHOOTING: OCTOBER 2022-OCTOBER 2023
Producer: Stefan Voyvodov 0883 318 810 / s.voivodov@gmail.com
Director: Stefan Voyvodov 0883 318 810 / s.voivodov@gmail.com
LOGLINE
How does it feel to be last of dying species?
SYNOPSIS
Since the middle of the 19th century in Bulgaria, the lynx has been accused of being a wrong and unnecessary animal, as a result it has been subjected to targeted extermination. Prejudice and ignorance build a false mystique around this secretive forest animal. However, there is a fragile, valuable and critically endangered population of lynx in Bulgaria, and the task of this unprecedented film is to make a cinematic portrait of this animal.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
The film is a cinematic portrait of the lynx, a topic that is of national and international importance, yet unexplored and undocumented until now in our country, providing the prerequisites for an artistic product with environmental commitment and artistic demand, but also with a priority for the audience and its festival distribution.
A conservation appeal through the power of art or a black documentary chronicle of another irreparable act against nature?
VISUAL CONCEPT
In this project, due to the specifics of filming work in the field, my task is not only directing, but also cinematography, editing and animation work, which I believe I can perform at a high level and at the same time with personal bias and dedication.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro):
€ 15 000
Secured funding (at time of application): 7200 EURO (48 % of budget)
Has the project received any funding so far? 7200 EURO on 26.11.2022 by National Culture Fund Bulgaria
Confirmed production, distribution or broadcasting partners:
New Bulgarian University
Word Festival of Animated Film
Other approached or potential partners: Nature museums
National Geographic Environment and ecological organizations
Before leaving for America, young Nikola visits his grandfather to say his final goodbye, but the old man decides to make one last attempt to convince his grandson to stay at home.
SYNOPSIS
Nikola (23) returns to the deserted village of his grandfather Ivan (83) planning to say goodbye before he goes abroad. Upon hearing his decision to leave the country to find happiness, the old man decides to make one last attempt to convince his grandson to stay by taking him on an adventure through his memories. Along the way, they make three stops. At the town hall, the family vineyard, and the train station. At each location the old man takes out a faded photo from a leather case and hangs it up in front of them. When he takes it down, the photo comes to life and the two observe a different memory from the 1960’s to the 1980’s, each teaching Nikola a valuable lesson about life. At nightfall, gathered around the fire, Ivan explains to Nikola the purpose of their little adventure. Nikola realizes that he doesn’t need to look far for happiness, because it is right under his nose. In fact, he always knew it, and now the memory of the deceased grandfather Ivan, shows him the right path.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S
STATEMENT
Nikola is a reflection of Lora herself, the writer and director of Manual of Happiness. And Ivan of her grandfather Elijah. Before leaving the country to study abroad, she believes that she would find her happiness there, and Bulgaria has nothing to offer her. Yet for a short time in England, she becomes convinced that this is far from true. During the three years away from home, the words of her own grandfather resonate in her mind - “the stone weighs in its place” /an old Bulgarian saying meaning everything returns to its roots/. Now, through the story of Nikola and Grandpa Ivan, she wants to pass on this life lesson to other young people who weren’t fortunate enough to get it from their own grandparents.
FILMER FORGE PITCH 2023
VISUAL CONCEPT
The camera will be a bystander throughout the story as if the characters are being followed by a curious spirit who joins them in their “time machine”. This mélange of the past and the present will be achieved with the help of contrast between set and wardrobe design as well as lighting, and extras bringing the space to life. Half the time we will see the locations as they are now – desolate and gloomy, and for the rest we will look through the prism of the old Ivan who sees everything in the vibrant colors of the past. The lighting in current times will gradually get warmer as the character gets closer to his revelation of the meaning of happiness. We will begin with a colorless sunrise and will symbolically end with one but this time beautiful blooming of warm and hopeful colors. This will reaffirm the message that old people’s sayings and memories of simple happy life are not just empty words but a reality we can achieve in our days if we choose to.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro): € 13 000
Secured funding (at time of application): None (0 % of budget)
Has the project received any funding so far? No. on 04.05.2023 by Cinetic Productions
Confirmed production, distribution or broadcasting partners:
N.A.
Other approached or potential partners: So far, we have contacted 38 different companies from different industries such as telecommunications, food distribution and manufacturing, banks and others for sponsorships. Currently we await on their response.
THE PROJECT
ORIGINAL TITLE: ХУБАВИЦА
ENGLISH TITLE: PRETTY GIRL
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: BULGARIA
DIRECTOR: ALEXANDAR TOMOVJUNIOR
SCREENWRITER: ALEXANDAR TOMOVJUNIOR
PRODUCER: CHAVDAR VARIYSKY
GENRE: FICTION / DRAMA
SHOOTING FORMAT: 4K
DURATION: 08:10 min
LANGUAGE(S) OF DIALOGUES: BULGARIAN
PLANNED DATES OF SHOOTING: Probably SEPTEMBER 2023
‘Pretty girl’ tells the story of a young, intelligent, and cynical pickpocket, an expert in his job. He unscrupulously robs his victims in public transport buses, internally laughing at the situation. During his last action on a bus, he sees a girl he likes very much at first sight. He accidentally pushes her and takes her wallet. Left alone with the loot from the robbery - 7-8 wallets, he acts out a performance with which he has a lot of fun. In one of the wallets in which he recognizes the beautiful girl from the bus from the photo on her ID card, he finds a death-note. After a short thought, he goes to the girl’s address, which he sees on the ID card, and breaks into her apartment. He finds her in the bathroom. In the moment he sees her, she has cut her veins, and is unconscious. He takes her out, ties her wrists, and calls an ambulance, which saves her life. He prepares to leave the apartment, but the instinct of a thief speaks to him. He goes back and collects the jewelry, money, and cell phone that the girl has left on the table before she tried to kill herself. He exits, leaving the apartment door open.
However, the incident reflects seriously on him and makes him think. The film ends with him preparing to board again on the bus to steal, but refuses. Instead, he leaves the girl’s belongings he stole from the apartment next to a trash can and walks away down the street. The film has an open ending.
SYNOPSIS
‘Pretty girl’ tells the story of a young, intelligent, and cynical pickpocket. During his last action on a bus, he sees a girl he likes very much at first sight. He accidentally pushes her and takes her wallet. Later looking at all wallets he collected, he finds a death-note in one of them. He recognizes the beautiful girl from the photo on her ID card. He goes to the girl’s address and finds her in the bathroom. She has cut her veins. He takes her out, ties her wrists, and calls an ambulance, which saves her life. The incident reflects seriously on him and makes him think.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
‘Pretty girl’ will be created by the model of Charlie Chaplin’s silent films and its main goal is to affect the audience emotionally by generating strong empathy and Aristotle`s “catharsis”. The film will also raise questions about the controversial human nature in which good and evil intertwine, as well as life and death and the choices that come with them.
The global, psychological counterpoint of the narrative in ‘Pretty girl’ comes from the main male character criminal history and his cynicism, and the story in which fate gets him involved because of his job.
VISUAL CONCEPT
‘Pretty girl’ will be a short film, without dialogue, lasting about 10 minutes. Its main idea is that the emotions and states that the characters go through and their reflection, especially on the main character, a professional pickpocket, will be described entirely through the visual means of cinema. These mainly include storytelling through the composition of the shots, light and shadows, clothing and gestures of the characters, and last but not least, the movement of the camera and the objects in the frame.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro):
€ 7,617
Secured funding (at time of application): No
Has the project received any funding so far? No
Confirmed production, distribution, or broadcasting partners: WildFire-Productions - Chavdar VariyskyCharlie, Producer, Film Editor
Other approached or potential partners: BNT, NOVA, Festivals, Youtube
An isolated teenager grieving his sister’s death at the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks, tries to avenge her by blowing up a mosque in his hometown in Bulgaria.
SYNOPSIS (MAXIMUM 10 LINES)
An isolated teenager (MICKEY) loses his sister (SOPHIE) in the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks. The next summer he sets out to avenge her by detonating a bomb in the central mosque in Sofia during prayer. On his way there he stumbles on a girl from his class which he likes (LENA) and she invites him for a raspberry sorbet. Mickey rejects her invitation but she discovers his plan and tries to stop him. He doesn’t listen and enters the mosque. Lena follows him inside with a risk for her own life. Suddenly amongst the anonymous antagonists is a person Mickey knows and cherishes. Nevertheless, he starts the timer of the bomb. Lena stays in the mosque and as Mickey is walking away, he gets a vision of melting raspberry sorbet flowing around and under his feet. This experience convinces him to turn back and disarm the bomb just before the explosion. Later that day Mickey and Lena are sharing a raspberry sorbet and he starts opening up about his loss.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S
STATEMENT (MAXIMUM 10 LINES)
Around the Triangle of Tolerance, through the tragedy of an angry teenager, Raspberry Sorbet juxtaposes two methods of operating in a polarised world where heroes and villains often look the same - that of violence and that of dialogue. This is the main thematic opposition that simultaneously exists on internal, interpersonal, and extrapersonal levels. The story is a social drama but functions as a thriller saturated with suspense. The protagonist (Mickey) goes through a positive arc that culminates when he defuses the bomb. Every act of aggression breeds a backlash, and although Raspberry Sorbet takes us back to 2016, revenge is a relevant theme. It affects not only radical Islam, but a range of other acts of aggression. This story raises questions about the present and the future through events that we already have some distance from.
FILMER
VISUAL CONCEPT
Although the roots of the story are painfully entwined in reality, we will create an image that is at odds with it. It will resemble a Magritte painting rather than have a realistic look. It will be stylized and have a sense of magic. We’ll create bold and minimalistic compositions, including only what is necessary for the narrative and leaving wide empty spaces. Sometimes we will deliberately hide elements of the story to evoke curiosity and focus the viewer’s attention. The main image of the film is when Mickey is walking in the river of melting raspberry sorbet. Something so innocent as the ice cream is now so much bigger than him. This visual exaggeration must leave a feeling of an impasse - no matter how much he runs Mickey must face the reality of his situation.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro): € 75 000
Secured funding (at time of application): € 2000 (3 % of budget)
Has the project received any funding so far? own contribution and in-kind investment by partners
Confirmed production, distribution or broadcasting partners: Chapla Studio - main producer; New Born Short Film agency; Kinematograf, Magic Shop, Audiogen, Bottleship VFX, Karitas Sofia Association;
Other approached or potential partners: French coproduction target partners: Les Steppes, Le Hangar, Protest Studios
THE PROJECT
ORIGINAL TITLE:
ENGLISH TITLE: SCHROEDINGER’S MAN
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: BULGARIA
DIRECTOR: ASPARUH FRANGOV
SCREENWRITER: ASPARUH FRANGOV
PRODUCER: IRINA GUROVA
GENRE: FICTION
SHOOTING FORMAT: DIGITAL (4K)
DURATION: 15 min
LANGUAGE(S) OF DIALOGUES: BULGARIAN
PLANNED DATES OF SHOOTING: 30.08.2023 - 05.09.2023
Schroedinger’s Man is both dead and alive, awaiting his fate boxed in a world of his own design. But are there things that we humans cannot control?
SYNOPSIS
Schroedinger’s Man – a man of middle age who, to the outside world, is both dead and alive. In the throes of an existential crisis, he permanently ostracizes himself to live the rest of his days in solitude, in an underground bunker, with a system in place which is set to euthanize him at any random time. As the effects of social isolation begin to take their toll, he begins to experience apparitions of visitors - a woman (K., his love), a close friend (L., a philosopher), and a mysterious man (his doubt). In a drunken rage, he lashes at the man, only to fall to the ground helpless. At this moment, the system activates, sedates and kills him. The screen turns to black. After a brief pause, we find the man, now in the outside world, driving to the seaside with his love. He falls asleep at the beach next to her to the rhythm of the sea. Peace is once again shattered, however, as he wakes to the screams of her drowning. He runs into the sea to save her, though her fate and his remain ambiguous.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
Schroedinger’s Man is as much a film as it is a thought experiment. It does not dare to provide answers; rather, it seeks to bring certain questions to the forefront of attention. And these questions are not foreign to us – they are universal, especially prevalent in our current modern scientific age. Can we live (and die) in a godless world completely in our rational control? Or is it the absurdity of the world (with all its hardship) that which makes it worth of living in? Cinema is the perfect medium for such an endeavor – it delves into the subconscious like no other art form. Through our main character, we will journey within these and other meditations, and his dreams and apparitions will
challenge the rationalist worldview. The fear of the gas valves (death) will always loom. The second part of the film is a means to balance the chaos of the first, perhaps to provide an explanation for those viewers who seek it, a view of a past, future or alternate universe for our Schroedinger’s Man.
VISUAL CONCEPT
The first 2/3 of the film (underground) will be filmed in black-and-white, in a tighter 4:3 aspect ratio. Visual experimentation and stark contrasts (including rear projection, sudden rapid changes in montage pace, varying focal lengths, chiaroscuro lighting, etc.) will be used to evoke a dream-like state, which only deepens as the film progresses. A French Nouvelle Vague feeling will be sought after, a tip of the hat to the existentialists of the era. It will be a subjective point of view from the thoughts of our main character, with each apparition shot in a differing style, according to their intent in the script. The last third will be filmed in a wider aspect ratio (16:9) and with a warm, saturated color palette and longer takes. The visuals will emphasize the vastness and beauty of the outside world. The film will be shot entirely with a selection of vintage glass, used to create an uncanny feeling of surreality, taking advantage of the character that such lenses produce.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro):
€ 60 000
Secured funding (at time of application): € 40 000 (80 % of budget)
Has the project received any funding so far?
Confirmed production, distribution or broadcasting partners:
Yes, € 40 000 on 12.01.2023 by The Bulgarian National Film Center (NFC)
The Nonconformist Alternativ
Other approached or potential partners: Transformers Ltd. Fraterra Ltd.
Director: Igor Hristov (+359 890 118 198; igorhristov23@gmail.com)
LOGLINE
Looking for a quick buck, two brothers unknowingly kidnap a child along with the car they snatched from a roadside parking lot.
SYNOPSIS
Looking for a quick buck, two brothers steal a car from a snow-covered parking lot. They speed away, pursued by the car’s owners, unaware they have also kidnapped a sleeping child. The older brother, Deyan, well-versed in crime, suggests selling the child and the car. However, Boyan, the younger brother, sympathizes with the child. A shocking radio broadcast exposes the child as having been previously kidnapped by the car’s owners, who are now being pursued by police. Boyan begs Deyan to stop the car but is ignored. In a climactic moment, Boyan pulls the handbrake, causing the vehicle to crash into a snowbank. The ensuing confrontation results in the unlikely hero Boyan knocking out both the original kidnappers and his own brother. The now-awake child sees Boyan as his rescuer.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
A few years ago in a daily newspaper I read the following headline “Two men steal car with sleeping child in back seat”. Impressed, I immediately wrote it down in my notebook as an interesting story and from that headline, Stop the Car was born.
Dramaturgically, the film is built on surprises and opposites. “Stop the Car” takes a close look at human relationships and emotions and contrasts the characters of two brothers, casually putting a social problem, namely child abduction and trafficking, under the magnifying glass. Cinema has the power to make a difference. Socially relevant themes have always been a priority for me in my directorial work. So this project also aims to touch the audience and ask ethical questions about a topic that, unfortunately, often remains on the sidelines of public attention.
FILMER FORGE PITCH 2023
VISUAL CONCEPT
“Stop the Car” is a highly visual project that relies on a specific color palette of whites, blues and grays and an overall colder look. The frames are highly contrasted and the atmosphere of winter mystique are mixed with the presence of architecture that tells a story of its own.
Relying on the experience and aesthetic vision of the cinematographer, Alexander Krumov, we will look for the rhythm and emotion of each scene. The lighting will create subconscious reactions in the viewer that enhance the dramatic emotion of the characters. The editing in the film is dynamic and keeps the viewer in constant suspense. The main goal is to follow the rhythm of the main actors, the character of each brother is built through the reactions of the other.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro): € 59,000
Secured funding (at time of application): 2,500 ( 4 % of budget)
Has the project received any funding so far? own contribution
A family lives on the brink of survival. Dogfights seem to be the only salvation for the man, but one day his dream of a better life leaves him forever.
SYNOPSIS
Victor and Elena are a young family, having their first child. Like many young people in Southeastern Europe, the man is unable to find a job. To Victor it seems that his only option to earn money is to participate in dogfights with his Pit Bull Ares. Day after day, Victor keeps counting on the dog fights money. The relationship of the young family is starting to crack. After all, Victor finds an escape at the pit with Ares, where many dogs find their violent death. Meanwhile, Elena is stuck between the domestic work and care for their baby. One morning, after another battle of Ares, Elena finds Victor’s bloodied T-shirt and a large sum of money. After another dispute between them, she sends Victor to the store. Left alone at the house, she leaves the baby to get diapers. When Victor returns, he finds a horrible scene. The bloody money doesn’t matter anymore because he has lost everything, his family, his dog and his dreamed future.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
The idea of creating the script, comes inspired by true events, which was spread around the media a few years back. The story is about a man, participating in dogfights with his dog, which led to a tragic ending for his baby child, that got viciously bitten by the dog. We all know that beside the fact that these fights are illegal, they are still happening somewhere there, away from our lives. If we search the internet, we can witness numerous horrible videos and visual content of it. Very often the people that are participating in these violent events, are either people attracted to the extreme and adrenaline from it or trying to make
easy money without any actual work. The dead end can sometimes break all kinds of moral boundaries and make people do things they normally wouldn’t think of. I thought the current case I was researching was maybe too brutal for my project, so I decided to look at it on a different, softer way, keeping the suspense and most of the original storyline intact.
VISUAL CONCEPT
The best way for the story to impact the audience, would be to stay as true and close to the real-life events as possible. My approach with recreating the dogfights will be more metaphorical, putting the audience together with the spectators surrounding the fight. This will be strongly supported by the sound design and SFX, without emphasizing the dogs fighting one another. Visually, the film will be told in two main color palettes. This way we will create two opposite zones in the film – Victor’s comfort zone – the warm dirty place unfriendly by its nature, but still a place where he is accepted, and his home – the place where he is supposed to feel safe and taken care of, but instead of it there is a soulless, cold place, where he is unwanted, for not taking care of his family. I know that working with animals is a difficult task, but this inspires me and gives me the ambition to create a world, different and new, from the ones we are used to see on the screen.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro):
€ 50 000
Secured funding (at time of application): € 5000 (10% of budget)
Has the project received any funding so far?
Confirmed production, distribution or broadcasting partners:
The project was placed first for a state grant from the Bulgarian National Film Center and now we are waiting for the financial committee’s decision on the requested amount of 40 000 euro on TBC by Bulgarian National Film Center
Other approached or potential partners: Mayling Wong (Co-producer) United Kingdom, maylingwong@mail.com
Radiator IP Sales (Distributor) Belgium, ben@radiatorsales.eu
Mailuki Films (Distributor) Spain, eduardo@mailukifilms.com
THE PROJECT
ORIGINAL TITLE:
ENGLISH TITLE: THE CALL
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: BULGARIA
DIRECTOR: DIKO BOUTCHOUKOV
SCREENWRITER: DIKO BOUTCHOUKOV
PRODUCER: IVO SL NIKOLOV
GENRE: FICTION
SHOOTING FORMAT: DCP/MP4
DURATION: 20 min
LANGUAGE(S) OF DIALOGUES: BULGARIAN
PLANNED DATES OF SHOOTING: APRIL 2024 (5 DAYS)
CONTACT DETAILS
Producer: +359 877801038, megaverseltd@gmail.com
Director: +359897399656, d.buchukov@gmail.com
LOGLINE
The young immigrant Jana (34) is facing the test of finding out whether her parents are still alive in their war-torn homeland, while remaining kind and joyful in front of her ten-year-old son, Vladi.
SYNOPSIS
One morning, Yana cannot reach her parents by phone because a war has started in her homeland. Her attempts are in vain - neither the calls, nor the messages get through. Yana fights hard not to let her son find out what is happening. It is his birthday and a celebration is planned in the park. Yana loses her temper there, but her friends help her. Still no signal. In the evening, she manages to talk to her mother and father. But there is something hidden behind their words of calm.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
This film is inspired by a real story of a woman who lives in Bulgaria with her son. Her parents are in Ukraine. She says that in the few hours that she couldn’t contact her parents, the hardest thing for her was to hide from her son that something is wrong. After contacting her parents and finding out they are fine, she realizes that whatever they say to her to calm her down, they, like her, will protect the psyche and health of their child from the harsh reality. The film is dedicated to parenthood and love. Love that protects, a love that is a victim of a harsh reality.
VISUAL CONCEPT
We will play with spaces and lenses to create a feeling of “claustrophobia”. Yana will be mostly in closeup, only with her son Vladi we will allow ourselves to open up to emphasize the freedom of the child when he plays with other children. We’re going to keep her in close-ups so to emphasize pressure by what’s going on. The shots will be completely based on her emotions and we will keep the camera “glued” to her, alternating warm and cool tones.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro): € 35 000
Other approached or potential partners: We have documents released for the current NFC session.
We are talking to companies for equipment and field services to be like co-producers. Nothing is certain yet.
While spending their summer vacation in a small town in Bulgaria, the relationship between Angel and his older sister Rali, is tested, when their Grandpa comes with a new car and offers driving lessons only to one of them.
SYNOPSIS
During summer vacation, at their grandparents’ house in Bregovo, Angel wants to show his older sister Rali that he is grown up, while she still sees him as her baby brother. That soon changes, when their Grandpa comes with a new car and offers driving lessons to Angel. Grandpa gives him a glimpse into the masculine world, which entices Angel, who can finally be seen as a big boy. However, this creates friction between him and his sister not only due to the glaring favoritism, but also their newfound respective gender norms within the patriarchal system, which, as we discover, are damaging for both girls and boys.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
The idea for this story came to me while reminiscing with my younger brother about our childhood and the events that led to our complicated relationship as adults. At this point, I realized, that even though we grew up in the same household, we did not have the same upbringing in terms of the socialization that we received as children, because of gendered preconceptions that boys grow up with versus girls, within the Bulgarian community. In the story, what I am interested in, is to perhaps find answers or clues as to how this patriarchal environment specifically impacts boys, who might find this appealing due to superficial perks, without necessarily perceiving the implicit violence that comes with it.
FILMER
VISUAL CONCEPT
The idea behind the visuals would be to prioritize the naturalistic expression of the siblings through longer shots, as well as positioning the camera close to their eye-level to immerse the viewer in the feelings and perspective of the children. Through close-ups, we would accentuate the visceral instances between the various characters, as well as capture the silent moments, illustrating the sometimes-unsaid feelings towards one another. The space of the village as well as the grandparents’ house, portrayed in wider shots, would ideally illustrate the feeling of loneliness and the attempt of the main character to understand this environment. The car, which is likewise an important prop, would also, through more static closeups and medium shots from inside, become a space where two characters invertedly need to be close, side by side, which visually creates tension between them, especially if they have differing behaviors.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro): € 90 000
Secured funding (at time of application): € 39 000 (approximately 42% of budget)
Confirmed production, distribution or broadcasting partners: FAMU Prague/Czech Republic – Partner with production support and post-production facilities for amount of 29 000 euro. Letter of intent attached.
Other approached or potential partners: AVA TRANS - Bulgarian Company in capacity of Private Investor with amount of 10 000 euro. Letter of intent attached.
THE PROJECT
ORIGINAL TITLE: СКАЧАЙ
ENGLISH TITLE: THE FALL
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: BULGARIA
DIRECTOR: PETAR GENCHEV
SCREENWRITER: ZHAKLIN PEYCHEVA
PRODUCER: PETAR GENCHEV AND ZHAKLIN PEYCHEVA
GENRE: FICTION
SHOOTING FORMAT: DIGITAL, 4K, 2.20:1
DURATION: 10-15 min
LANGUAGE(S) OF DIALOGUES: BULGARIAN, ENGLISH PLANNED DATES OF SHOOTING: AUGUST, 2023
When skydiving Dina (23 years old) bold girl pulls a practical joke that the parachute cannot open on her best friend Georgi (same age), which ends up getting her in trouble and forcing him to admit his actual feelings for her.
SYNOPSIS
When two best friends are skydiving, Dina tries to pull a practical joke on Georgi telling him the parachute cannot open. This causes Georgi’s mind to go into thinking he would die and hence we go into Georgi’s flashbacks of his memories – they are all of Dina. We go back to them in the sky, where he blurts out the words “I love you”, she tells him she was joking about the parachute. They go down in the most awkward parachute ride in history.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
Most people have never felt the thrill of falling. There are two ways that you might experience that: one is you dream a nightmare that you are falling or the other is you actually end up in a near death experience. The latter is the less experienced one. A fall can also be a reference to being low in your life, but what we want to tell with this story is the fall of love. It is about the leap of faith we have to take to allow ourselves to be in love.
VISUAL CONCEPT
The visual concept is mostly defined by smooth transitions between the memories of the protagonist, where the audience feels like it floats from one memory to the other. We would like to make the memories look and feel like it was shot on film, while the image where we are up in the sky would be very clear and crisp. Whenever we go back to the sky where they are falling we would get there through hard cuts.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro): € 5000
Secured funding (at time of application): N/A
Has the project received any funding so far? NO
Confirmed production, distribution or broadcasting partners:
Tesho Production LTD., London, UK, +44 73838 22622
Director: Georgi Martev, +359 88 8838210, g.martev@hotmail.com, georgimartev.com
LOGLINE
Eleven-year-old Pavel struggles with his unwanted sensitivity. His masculinity is tested when older children challenge him to commit an act of cruelty.
SYNOPSIS
Pavel helps his father in repairing the family car. He hurts himself, but his father tells him to be a man and not react to the pain. Pavel’s parents leave for a funeral. His mother wants to protect him from the emotional experience and refuses to bring him there. Pavel plays with his friends all around the village. Their games provoke Pavel to prove his bravery and masculinity. Suddenly, older boys appear and start harassing them. They challenge Pavel to slingshot down a blackbird’s nest from a nearby tree. In the face of the fear that he will not prove himself as a man and the threat of getting beaten, he shoots it down. All the children gather around it, where instead of broken eggs, they find hatched and unfledged chicks. One of the big boys stomps on the nest.
Back home, Pavel sees his father crying while hiding in the garage, still dressed in mourning clothes. A blackbird’s song rings out the night, reminding Pavel of what had happened earlier in the day.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
With Unfledged I want to touch on the topic of toxic masculinity at the very beginning of an adolescent’s self-awareness. Then, when children still possess their sincerity and sensitivity, but are beginning to clash with socially constructed norms. When the child begins to reject the mother’s caresses and pursue the father’s expectations. The various aspects of masculinity imposed on adolescent boys by their parents are then developed by them as a mask for society. Young boys grow up perceiving fear, emotionality, delicacy, and compassion as characteristics of the ‘weaker’ sex and, as a result, conceal such feelings in themselves. The film does not deliver a message to the audience but rather
questions these ingrained understandings through the perspective of the main character, Pavel. For whom do we wear the mask of cruelty and untouchability - for ourselves or for others? To whom are we afraid to show our true selves? And what are we willing to do to hide it?
VISUAL CONCEPT
The aesthetics of Unfledged aim to create a sense of a naturalistic yet poetic mood, being shot on location and on 16 mm film stock. The film will feature no soundtrack and instead rely on a wellthought-out sound design. The inclusion of sense-stimulating visuals, such as a greasy garage, boiling chicken vapours and cigarette smoke, Pavel’s reactions to his nettle rashes, aim to immerse the audience in the protagonist’s experience. The actors’ performances will be minimalistic and naturalistic. The characters’ inner world will be difficult to read for the audience to reinforce the harsh and expressionless world Pavel lives in. Long lenses will be of prime usage to create a sense of distance and observation, similar to the style of cinema verité. The camera will strive to glimpse through the emotionless masks of the characters, capturing the small instances of true emotions coming to light. Jump cuts and imperfect editing will also reinforce the documentary-like style.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro): € 52 962
Secured funding (at time of application): € 12 136 (22,91 % of budget)
Confirmed production, distribution or broadcasting partners:
Limited release and online distribution by Kinematograf, Bulgaria, team@kinematograf.bg
Other approached or potential partners: Applied for national funding at National Film Center – March 2023.
AVA Cine Rental – received letter of intent for 55% discount off the final offer for lighting equipment rental.
Magic Shop –received 60% discount off the final offer for lenses & camera rental. Kinematograf – received letter of intent for distribution
THE PROJECT
ORIGINAL TITLE: VIRILE
ENGLISH TITLE: VIRILE
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: BULGARIA
DIRECTOR: ALEX KRASIMIROV
SCREENWRITER: ALEX KRASIMIROV
PRODUCER: LYUBOMIR BALABANOV, EUROFILMS
GENRE: FICTION
SHOOTING FORMAT: 16 MM
DURATION: 15-20 min
LANGUAGE(S) OF DIALOGUES: BULGARIAN
PLANNED DATES OF SHOOTING: AUGUST, 2023
CONTACT DETAILS
Producer: lyubomir.balabanov@greyuniverse.com
Director: alexkrasimirov7@gmail.com
LOGLINE
A young criminal falls in love with a girl and proposes to her after a night of adventure, but when he is released from prison two years later, he finds her working as a pole dancer and realises he has been suffering from borderline personality disorder all along.
SYNOPSIS
A young criminal falls in love with a girl after a night of adventure and proposes to her. But two years later, he finds her working as a pole dancer and discovers he has been suffering from borderline personality disorder.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
As a director, I am passionate about telling stories that resonate with audiences on an emotional level. My latest film explores the complexities of the human experience through the journey of a young man struggling with borderline personality disorder. I aim to create an authentic and raw portrayal of his story, using visual techniques to immerse the audience in his world. My goal is to raise awareness about mental health issues and inspire empathy and understanding for those who struggle with them. By using a 16mm film format, I hope to capture the subtle nuances of our characters’ expressions and movements in a way that digital cameras simply can’t replicate. Throughout the production process, I am working closely with mental health professionals to ensure that our portrayal of borderline personality disorder is accurate and respectful. Ultimately, my vision is to create a film that leaves a lasting impact on audiences and inspires important conversations about mental health and the human experience.
FILMER FORGE PITCH 2023
VISUAL CONCEPT
The visual concept for this film is to create a raw and authentic portrayal of a young man's struggles with borderline personality disorder. We plan to use long shots and extreme close-ups to create a sense of intimacy and immersion in the character's world. To achieve a textured and emotive look, we have decided to shoot on 16mm film, a process that is time-consuming and expensive but will add a layer of depth and nuance that digital formats cannot replicate. By capturing the subtleties of our characters' expressions and movements through this medium, we aim to create a visual language that speaks directly to the emotional core of the story and leaves a lasting impact on audiences.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro):
Secured funding (at time of application):
Has the project received any funding so far?
Confirmed production, distribution or broadcasting partners:
Other approached or potential partners:
THE PROJECT
ORIGINAL TITLE: ФЪЪЪР
ENGLISH TITLE: WHEEE
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: BULGARIA
DIRECTOR: KIRIL TODOROV
SCREENWRITER: MIGLENA DIMOVA AND MARIANA SUBEVA
PRODUCER: IRINA GUROVA - IFILM
GENRE: FICTION
SHOOTING FORMAT: 4K
DURATION: 10 min
LANGUAGE(S) OF DIALOGUES: ENGLISH, BULGARIAN AND MACEDONIAN VERSIONS
PLANNED DATES OF SHOOTING: 30.09.2023 - 07.10.2023
Little Anne dreams to grow up faster, and when her parents start arguing, her dream indeed comes true, although not as she was imagining it.
SYNOPSIS
Little Anne wants to spend more time with her parents at work, but this would be possible only when she is big enough. So now Anne dreams about growing up fast. One day her parents start arguing. Little Anne is so affected by their quarrel, that suddenly she grows up. Literally. Her parents continue arguing more and more over the next few days, and each time Anne grows up even more - she is first transferred to school, but at the end she is so old she needs to go to a nursing home. As the parents are about to explode into another argument, Anne quickly runs away. In a playground she meets with an old man with his grandson, and together with them she starts feeling joy that quickly turns her back to normal. The next day Anne goes back to the kindergarten with her parents. As they arrive, the parents are about to start arguing again, but Anne ignores them and goes to play with her friend.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
The project “Wheee” deals with a really important topic of how the family environment affects children. Nowadays in cinema less and less attention is paid to issues such as family values and the vulnerability and fragility of a child as it grows and develops in our society. It is important to tell stories that are close to the children, to offer them different approaches with visualization and with images that illustrate problems affecting them. It is also necessary to cultivate an understanding of what is happening around them, so that they can more easily come to stand up for themselves. All these questions and themes find their place in the film “Wheee”.
FILMER FORGE PITCH 2023
VISUAL CONCEPT
The film will be presented by a storyteller who will narrate the story of Little Anne, as if she were reading a good night’s book. The shots will be saturated with color, they will feel magical, with clearly selected color combinations for the costumes describing each character. When Anne’s parents start fighting, everything around them will change, will become darker and unfriendly. The quarreling parents will be taking the form of dark silhouettes in the light of the distant room, their shadows writhing like two angry dogs barking at the frightened Anne. Overall cinematography will use the help of VFX and animation to enhance the magical feeling of the project. Music plays a defining role in the mood and spirit of the film. The soundtrack will be musical compositions without voice that will sonically illustrate the emotion and event in the film, reaching its climax as Anne grows up.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro): € 70 000
Secured funding (at time of application): € 43,900 ( 3% of budget)
Has the project received any funding so far? € 43,900 on 20.03.2023 by Bulgarian National Film Center
Confirmed production, distribution or broadcasting partners:
We are partners with North Macedonian production company DNF FILMS, represented by producer Goce Kralevski, with whom we applied for minority co-production funding in the end of this March, now we are attending the results in July.
Other approached or potential partners: We are in talks with the French company Origine films for distribution of the film since they have interest in kids and family short films.
THE PROJECT
ORIGINAL TITLE:
ENGLISH TITLE: WHEN I SAY NOTHING I SAY EVERYTHING, AND VICE VERSA
The dreams of a struggling musical duo of two misfits fall apart in the span of an evening when one of the members, a single mother announces her departure.
SYNOPSIS
“When I Say Nothing I Say Everything, and Vice Versa” follows a seemingly ordinary evening performance of the jazz duo – Vasil and Tsveteslava - a depressed accountant and a single mother. Their long - time friendship is put in danger when Tsveteslava suddenly announces her decision to quit the act. In addition to his dream of fame, Vasil is faced with the threat of losing his closest person, his real feelings for whom he has never had the courage to admit.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
“When I Say Nothing I say Everything, and Vice Versa” is a drama about the realization of one’s own mistakes, about acceptance, about the choice to recognize that a dream had been lost and that the time to leave it behind has come. It is a story about the urge to prove yourself to others and to yourself.
Two points of view are presented. Through the characters of Vasil and Tsveteslava is explored the inner conflict of two people at a point of their lives in which according to social conventions they need to have a clear vision of the future. But they turn out to be exactly the opposite – still figuring themselves out.
VISUAL CONCEPT
Real locations would be used with the addition of some decorations. The point is to create an illusion
FILMER
of one claustrophobic space, similar to a labyrinth, from which the characters have a hard time finding their way out. This would help reflect the tension that they experience and their sense of hopelessness. The colours would be bright and cold in the spaces where Vasil interacts with various characters, and warm in the space where he is just with Tsveteslava. The style would be naturalistic, the editing fast-paced. Spherical lenses would be used. The characters would be short with up close with wide lenses which would reinforce the sense of their isolation and solitude.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro): € 25 000
Secured funding (at time of application):
Has the project received any funding so far? No, we are in the process of waiting for approval from NFC
Other approached or potential partners: Girls In Film – VOD platform – United Kingdom
THE PROJECT
ORIGINAL TITLE: KÜÇÜK BIR KUTLAMA
ENGLISH TITLE: A LITTLE CELEBRATION
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: TURKEY
DIRECTOR: SELEN ÖRCAN
SCREENWRITER: SELEN ÖRCAN
PRODUCER: ELIF REIS
GENRE: FICTION
SHOOTING FORMAT: 18:5:1
DURATION: 20 min
LANGUAGE(S) OF DIALOGUES: TURKISH
PLANNED DATES OF SHOOTING: 4
CONTACT DETAILS
Producer: elifreyis@gmail.com / +9005353565048
Director: selen.orcan@yahoo.com / +9005532238881
LOGLINE
A worker who died in a fireworks factory will test the conscience of Can and his family, who are trying to get rid of him just a few hours before the new year.
SYNOPSIS
Two workers at a fireworks factory in İstanbul try to dispose of the body of a colleague who has died as a result of a workplace accident/murder just a few hours before the new year.
In the narrative where the fear of death is intertwined with a desire to forget what happened through celebrations, the body will feel heavier as two young men struggle with their conscience.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
First of all, I believe that “A Little Celebration” can develop an original directorial language by telling current class conflicts through the lives and perspectives of two workers working in a fireworks factory. My aim is to convey a small slice of the country’s reality by expanding the boundaries of the concepts of good and evil, without telling any victimhood or making any agitated choices. Since I also anticipate the difficulty of extracting strong emotions from a simple narrative, I plan to spend a long rehearsal process, especially with the actors, to capture the naturalness as much as possible. In line with the structure of the story, I will prefer a minimal and neutral language in acting management, parallel to the world to which the created characters belong, while trying to capture the naturalness as much as possible. As a director, my main motivation for this screenplay is to ask questions while hiding my personal views as much as possible, with a documentary-like distance.
VISUAL CONCEPT
In the visual design of “A Little Celebration,” naturalness is aimed to be achieved while also considering the story of the film. Therefore, the use of shoulder camera will be preferred, except for a few exceptional fixed shots inside the house. With the shoulder camera, the goal is to place the viewer in the eyes of a
FILMER
character who accompanies the events. With this preference, the audience will be made a part of the characters’ moral questioning. In the film’s color scheme, mainly blue tones will be preferred to support the tension of the situation, and natural lighting will be simulated in the lighting.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro): € 32 000
Secured funding (at time of application): € 5000 ( 15 % of budget)
Has the project received any funding so far? € 2000 on 05.10.2023 by two private companies that will be co-producers through transportation and equipment rental from Turkey.
Confirmed production, distribution or broadcasting partners: -
Other approached or potential partners: Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey and independent film funds from Turkey.
THE PROJECT
ORIGINAL TITLE: ALL FLOWERS IN TIME BEND TOWARDS THE SUN
ENGLISH TITLE: ALL FLOWERS IN TIME BEND TOWARDS THE SUN
Two middle aged women meet for the first time, although they know each other since forever.
SYNOPSIS
A nice sophisticated restaurant. Frannie- a middle aged trans woman sits alone, waiting for someone. Galinie - a middle aged woman, her ex-wife and mother of their teenage child, Ares - appears at the door. They hug each other tightly. It seems like it’s been a long time since they last saw each other. Frannie has been on the run and this is their first encounter after her transitioning. In the bustling atmosphere of the restaurant, memories intertwine with the sounds of the surrounding world, while the two women find each other in a state of absolute love and compassion. Balancing between a romantic first date comedy and a therapy session, the film explores the power of love and the multiplicity of identity.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
The feminine and the masculine, the erotic and the parental, the passive and the active, the introverted and the extroverted. At the heart of the narrative is the identity as a multiplicity. Prompted by a need to approach people more as self-existing entities and less as social phenomena, the film is a tender exploration of contradictions that seek bridging. Structured around the meeting of two women, the film unfolds as a romantic comedy about familial love. In contrast to the contemporary zeitgeist, which idealises self-realization through individuality, the film reflects on the notion of acceptance and self-realization through connection with “the other”. It reflects on the foundations of family ties and the multiplicity of identity, the fluidity of roles and the freedom inside of “institutions” and “forms” such as the family and gender. But instead of using violence as a vehicle, it enlists tenderness and understanding.
VISUAL CONCEPT
The film is divided into two distinct dramaturgical sections: the present and the past. Frannie’s encounter with Galenie at the restaurant takes place in the present. The scene between them is played out in a straightforward and coherent manner. In terms of the art production, it is important to achieve a balance between a relatively luxurious restaurant with a warm atmosphere and a crowded space that gives the private conversation between the two protagonists the feeling (fear) of publicsomething that should be discussed in person takes place in front of strangers. The cinematography, using the 2:35 format, as well as the sound design will enhance the presence of the surrounding environment. The second part of the story, in which we watch private moments from the family’s past, will be filmed with a video camera and shown in 4:3 ratio.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro): € 75.000
Secured funding (at time of application): None at the time (0% of budget)
Confirmed production, distribution or broadcasting partners:
Akran Creative Company (tel: +30 6943454163, e-mail: rom.lobach@gmail.com) is the production company for this project in Greece.
Other approached or potential partners: In Greece, we have already submitted the film for funding to BIG SHORTS programme of Onassis Foundation (O.S), Microfilm Programme, which is part of the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), and Greek Film Center.
THE PROJECT
ORIGINAL TITLE: BRAZIL
ENGLISH TITLE: BRAZIL
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: SERBIA
DIRECTOR: DANILO STANIMIROVIĆ
SCREENWRITER: DANILO STANIMIROVIĆ
PRODUCER: IVAN STEPANOVIĆ
GENRE: FICTION
SHOOTING FORMAT: DIGITAL
DURATION: 20 min
LANGUAGE(S) OF DIALOGUES: SERBIAN
PLANNED DATES OF SHOOTING: SEPTEMBER 2023
CONTACT DETAILS
Producer: Producer: Ivan Stepanović / +381 63 227123 / stepanovic.ivan@gmail.com
A middle aged teacher prepares a group of little girls for a dance competition in which she herself wants to participate.
SYNOPSIS
In a provincial elementary school, an overweight middle aged teacher prepares a group of students for a dance competition. She takes pictures of them for Facebook in revealing and slinky costumes. She aggressively makes them practice the choreography to the point of exhaustion. The girls protest the song selection and are called out by their class for hanging out with the bully-teacher. The girls decide not to show up for the competition. The teacher is furious while the audience is waiting for the spectacle to begin. The teacher takes the stage and breaks into the routine as the spectators begin to follow along and dance together with her.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
My elementary school teacher was big and scary, but at the same time she was a person you couldn't help to love and respect. I don't really remember the math and history classes (maybe because nobody gave us any), but I do remember the regional dance competition where she recruited all the third grade girls and came up with choreography to her favourite song, "Brazil" by her peer, Yugoslav diva - Bebi Dol. I've always been in a good position to watch my friends bewildered as this fascinating woman tortures them and forces them to superhuman efforts, while at the same time, in her own, bizarre way, she is showing love and tenderness. This movie is based on true events from my elementary school days, and is dedicated to my teacher.
VISUAL CONCEPT
BRAZIL is first of all, a portrait of Ceca - a complex, ambivalent woman who is loved by audience despite her manipulations and questionable methods of education. She does project her unfulfilled dreams on her students, but she is the only one who actually dedicates her time to them.
FILMER FORGE PITCH 2023
By sticking to original location, natural lightning and combination of professional and non professional actors, I would like to achieve atmosphere of unobtrusive naturalism, cleared from any kind of genre conventions. Ending sequence, done in the style of classical musicals, will be strong contrast to the rest of the film. This ending will try to give Ceca what she couldn’t get from life. She will finally get the oportunity not just to dance, but to see the whole school dancing and singing with her, according to her rules.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro):
€ 26 000
Secured funding (at time of application): € 6800 ( 26.1 % of budget)
Has the project received any funding so far? - 4.600 EUR on 05.05.2023. by Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Belgrade, Serbia - In kind - Technical resources (part of Camera, Lighting and Grip equipment)
- 1.000 EUR on 05.05.2023. by Personal funds
- 1.200 EUR on 28.04.2023. by SAT TV PožarevacIn kind - Studio space for shooting the final scene
Other approached or potential partners: funding application submitted to Film Center Serbia open call for Funding Thesis Films, expected 11.500 EUR, results in early July
Emma, 5 years old, lives with her single father, she falls in love with their neighbour who is as old as his dad. Once the neighbour calls her “a young man” and from that they Emma does everything to prove that she is a girl. 28 years later, she still has not moved on and seeks revenge.
SYNOPSIS
Extra in the attachment
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
Extra in the attachment
VISUAL CONCEPT -
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro): € 3000
Secured funding (at time of application): € 1000 (30% of budget)
Has the project received any funding so far? no
CONTACT DETAILS
THE PROJECT
ORIGINAL TITLE: FINDING HOME
ENGLISH TITLE: FINDING HOME
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: BULGARIA/FRANCE/USA
DIRECTOR: MARIA STANISHEVA
SCREENWRITER: MARIA STANISHEVA
PRODUCER: MANON MESSIANT / MARIA STANISHEVA
GENRE: ANIMATION
SHOOTING FORMAT: 2D ANIMATION BASED ON ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY VO
DURATION: 12 X 6 min
LANGUAGE(S) OF DIALOGUES: VARIOUS ORIGINAL LANGUAGES
PLANNED DATES OF SHOOTING: 2023 - SERIES R&D, 2024-25 - 12 EPISODES PRODUCTION
Director: Maria Staniseva, maria@animadocs.com, www.animadocs.com
LOGLINE
FINDING HOME is an animated documentary series that tells the stories of climate refugees from around the world and sets out to re-imagine the notion of “home”. Each episode features the testimony of an actual environmental refugee uprooted from their home and forced to relocate to strange new lands, and uses the power of animation to convey raw emotion and to reveal the lifeshattering effects of climate change.
SYNOPSIS
Finding Home is an animated documentary series made up of twelve six minute episodes. It is a collection of diverse personal stories that represent the various impacts of climate that force people to flee: ocean level rise, drought, hurricanes, tsunamis and other extreme weather events.The goal of the series is to show, through personal testimonies, the concrete impact of climate change on people’s daily life and the subsequent environmental migration wave we are witnessing. The protagonist voices in their original languages will be the narrators of the episodes. Our pilot episode, released in 2022, tells the personal story of Antonia Jardenia da Silva from Brazil: a climate refugee forced to move from her home village to the big city in order to take care of her newborn baby as it struggles with microcephaly. The film follows the period of drought in Northeastern Brazil and the subsequent Zika epidemic caused by a mosquito-transmitted virus.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
We are currently facing a migration wave much bigger than anything we’ve seen during humanity’s biggest wars or recent conflicts. Climate refugees have been forecasted at 25 million to 1 billion people by 2050, with 200 million being the most widely cited estimate across the scientific community.
By giving voice to individuals from different social and geographical backgrounds, Maria Stanisheva wants to treat this issue through the prism of emotional, intimate and individual voices and not in a scientific and quantitative way. At the same time, her goal is to emphasize on the thin, almost invisible line that divides the spectator from becoming a refugee who could get forced to leave their own home in the not-so-distant future.
We chose animation to interpret these documentary stories because we are convinced in the universal power of this medium. In Maria’s experience as a producer and director of animated content for various human rights campaigns, she witnessed how animation can overcome sociocultural differences and borders to raise awareness among big numbers of people. It has a special way of protecting the audience - while at the same time allowing it to engage with difficult subjects.
VISUAL CONCEPT
Animation will be used both as a technique to re-tell what happened in the past and a visual tool to interpret the emotional aspect of the stories through diverse visual metaphors. Color will play an important part in the story arch. For each episode, we will use different shades of gray along with a main color, allocated to each climate force. The characters and their original environment will be portrayed in this limited color palette. When the catastrophic climate force enters the story, color will gradually disappear, leaving the protagonists in an entirely black and white environment. The latter will be a reflection of the character’s emotional state, which is disoriented and helpless faced with the enormous gravity of the situation. Once the protagonist overcomes the difficulties and ordinary life goes on, color will be re-introduced.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro):
Secured funding (at time of application):
Has the project received any funding so far?
€ 960 000
€ 102 500 (11% of budget)
French National Film Centre (CNC Audiovisual Innovation Fund) € 20,000 (pilot production, 2020)
Regional grant from Nouvelle Aquitaine - € 10,000 (pilot production, 2020)
Co-production short film funding from the Bulgarian National Film Centre € 10,000 (pilot, 2021)
ANIMADOCS/ILIADE FILM contribution - € 40,000 (pilot production, 2020)
Alhambra Studios Post-production Award - € 2,500 (Series, Sunny Side of the Doc, 2023)
The Redford Centre development grant - 20,000 USD (Series, 2023)
Confirmed production, distribution or broadcasting partners:
• Co-production between Iliade et Films (France) and ANIMADOCS (Bulgaria, USA)
• Miyu Distribution. - pilot episode distributor/sales (France, Luce Grosjean, luce.grosjean@miyu.fr)
- over 20 festival selections and a nomination for the Unifrance Short Film Prize, awarded during the Cannes Film Festival.
• “Quartier Libre” - French initiative of short films that local cinemas from the Parisian region can broadcast before feature films, our pilot episode will be screened for a year in various cinemas
• The funders of our pilot episode: the French National Film Centre (CNC Audiovisual Innovation Fund), French region Nouvelle Aquitaine, and the Bulgarian National Film Centre.
• Mentor/pitch partners: The Institute of Documentary Film’s East Doc Series program helped us pitch at the EastDoc Platform (Prague), Sunny Side of the Doc (La Rochelle) and IDFA (Amsterdam).
• Berlinale Talents - where the pilot script was developed
• The Redford Centre Development Grant
• Les Femmes s’animent, a professional French network working on highlighting the initiatives of women in the animation and defense of their rights - advocates for the project since its premiere at the Rennes National Animation Film Festival. And awarding us the Women in Animation’s Audiovisual production Heartbeat Award
Other approached or potential partners:
• UNESCO, which agreed on supporting the project dissemination by communicating it through its vast networks once completed, following a debate in sustainability during the Berlinale
• International Organisation for Migration (IOM) - on latest data for the interactive exhibition, part of FINDING HOME’s dissemination
• Fridays for Future - a youth organisation which is active in 7500 cities around the world and has managed to activate over 14 million climate activists (started by Greta Thunberg)
• Eligible participants must have gained an educational degree in any subject in filmmaking (Film Directing, Producing, Script Writing, etc.) and/or have at least 2 completed short films released to festivals and been programmed in official selection of international film festivals.
Attachments (available in the FINDING HOME dropbox folder)
1. Synopsis, treatment, and script.
2. Short biography, photo of director/writer and contacts (phone number and email).
In a cyberpunk world ravaged by a dangerous virus, a couple must resort to becoming cyber thieves in order to survive.
SYNOPSIS
In a quarantined future in 2080 where a virus is transmitted through the air, a cyberpunk couple in Tehran must steal a rescue device to save the life of the woman’s infected younger brother. They plan a dangerous heist on a highly secured hospital. This heist proves to be a dangerous and difficult mission that could result in the death of both of them.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
My film happens in a cyberpunk world. To my way of thinking, cyberpunk is the best description of the east world future, where there is a collage of technological culture and old customs combined with ever-lasting wars cause a gigantic chaos. Gentlepunks incorporate cyberpunk genre features, both in terms of script and visual elements. Yet, it includes some ingredients which make the story procession against the flow of the most cyberpunk stories. In majority of cyberpunk stories, we are confronted with a world in which the ultimate purpose is connecting to a worldwide network. Despite this fact, in this film, every one is connected to the worldwide network in the beginning. While through the story flow, every one ends up disconnecting from the network and getting back to non-technological life. In the end of the film, instead of last minute rescue, we witness the failure in the last moment. It is important to me that the audience understands that for us the future is nothing but a return to the past and it’s not an illusion like an apocalyptic film. rather it is the truth that we understand closely.
FILMER
VISUAL CONCEPT
The film Gentlepunks is a standout in the cyberpunk genre due to its departure from the typical narrative of connecting to a global network. Unlike most cyberpunk stories, where the ultimate goal is to connect to a worldw ide network, Gentlepunks begins with every character already connected. As the story progresses, however, each character ends up disconnecting and returning to a nontechnological lifestyle, deviating from the typical cyberpunk trajectory. In addition to its unique narrative, the film also boasts a distinctive visual concept that combines cyberpunk elements with ancient Persian architecture and costume design. Every detail in the film’s design is drawn from different cultural ages in Iran and fused with futuristic ideas, creating a visually stunning and original world. Notably, the incorporation of symbols of current-day Iran, particularly Tehran, adds an interesting contrast to the historical cultural references present in the film’s design. This blend of historical and contemporary elements creates a visually compelling world that sets Gentlepunks apart from other cyberpunk films.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro): € 20 000
Secured funding (at time of application): € 2000 (10 % of budget)
Has the project received any funding so far? No.
Confirmed production, distribution or broadcasting partners: No.
Other approached or potential partners: The project will be presented to many companies and producers. However, since the Filmer Forge program is just the first step towards implementing the project, and we have not yet entered into contracts with other production companies or partners
THE PROJECT
ORIGINAL TITLE: İVAN’IN ÇOCUKLUĞU
ENGLISH TITLE: IVAN’S CHILDHOOD
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: TURKEY
DIRECTOR: YIĞIT ARMUTOĞLU
SCREENWRITER: YIĞIT ARMUTOĞLU
PRODUCER: YIĞIT ARMUTOĞLU
GENRE: FICTION
SHOOTING FORMAT: DURATION: 13 min
LANGUAGE(S) OF DIALOGUES: ENGLISH, TURKISH, UKRAINIAN
A mother and her son who fled to another country due to the war in their homeland confront the trauma caused by the war when they attend an event for children.
SYNOPSIS
A park where there are activities for children on April 23. Alina(35) encourages her son, Ivan(8), looking shy, to join the games. Ivan joins Turkish children to play games. Meanwhile, the demonstration of planes starts and the first plane passes by with its acrobatic move. Alina, watching the plane demonstration, cannot see Ivan when she turned to the kids to look for him. She looks around for a while and shouts his name but cannot find him. Senselessly, she starts looking for Ivan, shouting his name, in the park area. Once one of the acrobatic planes flies by very closely, she covers her ears and crouches down. After a short while, she stands up fast and adds, after shouting his name: “They are not warplanes”. She notices the toilet with its entrance through the ground. She finds Ivan, covering his ears in one of the cabins. She tries to convince him to get out. The only condition that Ivan lays down is that they return home.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
The story of the film emerged in the period when the Russia - Ukraine war started. At the 23 April celebrations where I took my nephew, acrobatic planes were demonstrating a performance. When the planes went for a low flying as part of the performance, they made a very loud noise. While the children around us enjoyed the show, my nephew got scared of the noise and started to cry. With this encounter that I experienced during my studies on war, I started to think about the function of those acrobatic planes, which are actually old fighter planes. In this sense, while the plane causes children to lose their lives in one part of the world, the same planes entertain them in another part of
the world. The contrast emerging from the functional use has become the starting point of the film. Because I intend to show this contrast in the film, I built the story on the Ukrainian Ivan character and Turkish children.
VISUAL CONCEPT
I plan to shoot the movie in a documentary-realistic style, similar to the forms of Dardenne Brothers, where the camera is used on the shoulder actually, because I deemed it fit to the dynamic life of children, the structure of the story and the inner situation of a mother who seeks her son in panic.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro): € 23 030
Secured funding (at time of application): € 4161 (18 % of budget)
Has the project received any funding so far? € 2802 on 13.04.2023 by Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism. on 16.04.2023 by International Izmır Short Film Festival.
THE PROJECT
ORIGINAL TITLE: ΚΑΜΙΚΑΖΙ
ENGLISH TITLE: ΚΑΜΙΚΑΖΙ
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: GREECE
DIRECTOR: CHRISTINA – KALLIRROI GARBI
SCREENWRITER: CHRISTINA – KALLIRROI GARBI
PRODUCER: MYRTO STATHI
GENRE: FICTION
SHOOTING FORMAT: DIGITAL
DURATION: 14 min
LANGUAGE(S) OF DIALOGUES: GREEK
CONTACT DETAILS
PLANNED DATES OF SHOOTING: WINTER 2023 / EARLY 2024 (4 DAYS OF SHOOTING)
Producer: +306976002001, myrtostathi@gmail.com
Director: +306977064894, christinagarbi@gmail.com
LOGLINE
Artemis constantly steals pieces of raw meat from the kitchen of the hotel where she works as a cleaner, but the day of her birthday things take an unexpected turn.
SYNOPSIS
Artemis is a cleaner at an expensive hotel in Athens. She is facing financial problems and she is struggling to pay her bills every month. She keeps stealing pieces of raw meat from the kitchen of the hotel where she works. She takes them as a gift to Eva, a woman ten years younger, with whom she has just fallen in love. With these pieces of meat the two women have romantic dinners and begin to bond. Eva has no idea of the origin of these gifts nor of Artemis’s true job. On the day of Artemis’s birthday, things take an unexpected turn and the fragile balances that Artemis has created are threatened to blow up.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
Artemis is a kamikaze. She doesn’t hesitate to risk a full explosion. I’ve chosen the image of a woman who ties raw meat upon her body, like a life vest or explosive material, because it shocks and moves me at the same time. These pieces of meat feed Artemis’s and Eva’s love. As if Artemis is hunting for her love. Dead flesh is playing a dominant role in the film. It brings the two women closer but also tears them apart.
This film is a short psychological mosaic made of many subjects. Our need for human connection, poverty, violence, love, loneliness, instinct. Artemis is like a lonely feline trying to survive.
Kamikaze’s story is the story of every person that at some point in their life, were ashamed for who they really were.
FILMER
VISUAL CONCEPT
The film has a bittersweet sense. I want it to be soft and cruel at the same time. The cinematography of the scenes that deal with raw reality (hotel, Artemis’s house, car accident) will be realistic (mostly handheld shots). On the other hand, when the women are together (Eva’s home, motorway), there will be a slightly stylized cinematography giving a warmer sensation. Vintage lenses will add a more poetic and dreamy visual identity despite the film’s realistic story. A 4:3 frame will lead us into the entrapment of Artemis. The sound of the two last scenes is blended, unifying two universes that are about to collide. The pace of the film will be rapid but in certain points it will spread in order to give us the chance to dive into the characters’ psychology.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro): € 65.000 euros
Secured funding (at time of application): € 2.000 ( 3,07 % of budget)
Has the project received any funding so far? We have confirmed 2000 euros as a coproducer’s deferral from Stathi Twins Productions and are currently waiting for answers from the Greek Film Center, the Onassis Foundation and ERT (National broadcaster in Greece).
Confirmed production, distribution or broadcasting partners:
Other approached or potential partners: Executive producer: Gregoris Rentis
THE PROJECT
ORIGINAL TITLE: ΛΗΘΗ
ENGLISH TITLE: LETHE
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: GREECE
DIRECTOR: NEFELI RAPTI
SCREENWRITER: NEFELI RAPTI
PRODUCER: MARIA REPOUSI
GENRE: FICTION
SHOOTING FORMAT: 1.85.1
DURATION: 17 min
LANGUAGE(S) OF DIALOGUES: GREEK
PLANNED DATES OF SHOOTING: MAY 2024
CONTACT DETAILS
Producer: +306972102102, repousi.maria@gmail.com
Director: +306976561461, rapti.nefeli@gmail.com
LOGLINE
Is it time to make the dream come true?
SYNOPSIS
Anna constantly dreams that she is an encaged animal, one that its vigor is fading away. She doesn’t like to sleep anymore. Perhaps sleep deprives her time or existence. Or does it point out the feelings she tries to submerge? Her recurrent, mundane life will be shaken when she meets a person from her past. She will confide in him her inmost thoughts and fears. Has the time come to make the dream come true?
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
The story’s main idea is to create a portrait of a person living in the modern, composted world, a world that will lawfully decline if it won’t get rid of its “old skin”. Anna lives a monotonous life but her dreams are nightmarish. She feels trapped in her life. Sleep has become a suffocating version of reality. The dream nevertheless is there to remind her of the actual problem, the way she feels in this world. The desire for change though is still present. It recurs in the dreams. Transgression is an inherent feature of our own nature. Are the animals Anna dreams of a way of liberating herself, an urge that seeks escape?
VISUAL CONCEPT
The world of the movie is a no-land, contemporary, concrete big city both wealthy and poor. Carefully composed frames, static or tracking shots that will imply a feeling of entrapment shot on early morning hours or late afternoon, where things will acquire a dreamier dimension, contradictory to the roughness of the surroundings and daily life. The slow-burning, internal rhythm and polished image will be tumbled for the second part of the movie, where the dream sequences become more prominent, the image is raw but still serving the “magic realism” aesthetics of the movie.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro): € 85.000
Secured funding (at time of application): 0 (0% of budget)
Other approached or potential partners: Abfab productions
In a somewhat dystopian world, society has developed different ways of dealing with death. Mediumship agencies are fully in charge of providing the bureaucratized service of said interactions.
SYNOPSIS
In a parallel future, Justina (35) starts a job at a mediumship agency, announcing their messages from beyond. All these agencies are built on structures that forbid their agents from knowing anyone but their supervisor. Having lost her family as a child and growing up an orphan in a pre apocalyptic world where human interactions have mutated to the rhythm of the general degradation, these brief exchanges with the customers are her only instances of socialization. Her alienated life fades between ephemeral sexual encounters and the objects of her only emotional bond: the plants she meticulously cares for. Justina is numbed by the extreme level of coldness the job requires, but this will all change when she crosses paths with Mercedes (60), a widow medium who has recently retired from the same agency Justina works in. Together, they will discover that death is much more than just a field of work.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
“Mensajera” is a dramatic thriller with dystopian overtones. I think the genre allows us to create a world where social dynamics are turned upside down, distorted and cold. I aim to question social conventions and the way we interact upon them, which works as a metaphor that allows us to create a parallelism with our present reality, forcing us (as filmmakers) and the audience to question the nature of our current society and its shifting nature. I’m interested in exploring the sexuality and morality of the characters by subtly showing the contradictions within themselves. Showing their
best side, while deep down hiding their miseries (alcoholism, depression and even animal mistreatment). As a director, I am interested in awakening the viewer’s imagination by hiding certain elements and not giving all the information already digested, in order to invite the audience to fill it in by themselves.
VISUAL CONCEPT
The camera will be a fundamental part of the visual narrative with its movements and framing. Through the dialogues, zooming in (macro), unveiling the mouth, hands, nose, eyes, cutting the bodies in the frame, not always showing them or what’s happening. Off-screen actions will be a powerful resource, since the cinema we are writing has the intention of making the viewer imagine what they are hearing, but at times not seeing. There will be other interior shots in rooms, which will be shot with a fixed camera and framed from outside the door, as if peeking in, this will allow for the voices and sounds outside the field to provide us the information. Some references in terms of narrative structures, aesthetic resources and colorimetry are: “Magical Girl” by Carlos Vermut, “El perro que no calla” by Ana Katz and “Kynodontas” by Yorgos Lanthimos.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro): € 60 185
Secured funding (at time of application): € 0 (0% of budget)
Has the project received any funding so far? No
Confirmed production, distribution or broadcasting partners:
A child doesn’t want to go to his grandma’s birthday party, preferring to take refuge in the fantasy world of his favorite sci-fi series: Rando.
SYNOPSIS
In the outskirts of a big city in centre-norther Italy, Lorenzo, a 8 years old child, refuses to go to his grandma’s birthday party, preferring to take refuge in the fantasy world of his favorite sci-fi series: “Rando”. His parents have just divorced, but there seems to be something else that makes it difficult for the little boy to accept that the universe he grew up in is changing. In the finale, the grandmother, who we discover to be suffering from a terminal illness, reunites with her grandson through a game inspired by “Rando”, accompanying him with a smile on a path of awareness of the impermanence of human relationships.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
I was eight years old when I experienced one of the most difficult times of my childhood. While my parents were going through a turbulent divorce, my greatest playmate, my grandmother, fell ill with lung cancer. The world I had grown up in was changing, and I didn’t seem to be willing to acknowledge it. I preferred to take shelter in the vision of those blockbusters that would have soon ignited my passion for cinema. For a long time my imagination, first as an audience member and then as a creator, has been a perfect escape from reality. Entertainment as well as irony have always been at the basis of all my creative projects acting as masks of my vulnerabilities. With this story, for the first time I want to lay bare my fears, accompanying the viewer on a journey of acceptance of the impermanence of human relationships. My ultimate goal with Rando is to create an emotional experience that will leave the audience with the warmth I haven’t been able to give to my grandma.
FILMER
VISUAL CONCEPT
“Rando” is a small drama in 4:3, that begins and ends like a fairy tale. Inspired by Aronofsky’s claustrophobic direction, I take up the language of a cartoon for adults in which every movement, even the smallest, counts. A sudden silence or noise is enough to create tension. The long shots together with the internal editing, will help the viewers to immerse themselves in Lorenzo’s reality. A gloomy world, made of silences and waitings, where the unsaid and the characters glances are more important than words. The emotional anxiety accumulated by the audience will melt in the moving and cathartic final hug between Lorenzo and his grandmother while, in the end credits, the “adventurous” musical theme of the “Rando” series will reaffirm the understanding between the two. There are three main film references for Rando. For story structure, The Present by Jacob Frey, for cinematography, The Whale by Darren Aronofsky, and for editing and sound, Play by Ruben Ostlund.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro): € 20.000
Secured funding (at time of application): € 10.000 (50% of budget)
Has the project received any funding so far? € 10.000 on 1 March 2023 by Edoardo Ulivelli in the form of private investment
Confirmed production, distribution or broadcasting partners:
Production company: “N6”, Italy, Via Niccolò Machiavelli 257, Viareggio (Lu), info@ n6production.it, n6production@legalmail.it, Ig e Facebook @n6.production
A small rebellion through ordinary days that tells how difficult it is to be a woman.
SYNOPSIS
Ilayda is 14 years old, she is a successful swimmer. Since her breasts are larger than her other teammates, she tries to cope with the disadvantage she experiences while swimming, by wrapping her breasts with tapes. This situation is challenging for her in the process of discovering sexuality. With the encouragement of her best friends Ece and Ekin, after she bought her first bra, she wants to test herself in training without taping her breasts. After that, an incident with her swimming coach will cause the identity of the swimmer and the woman to clash once again.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
I will build the atmosphere of the work titled ‘Swimming Girl’ around the difficulty and reality of the phenomenon of ‘being a woman’ in this fictional story. Through our 14 years old protagonist, Ilayda, who experiences the discovery of her own body and sexuality at a young age and also happens to be a swimmer, we will tell the story of the challenges of being a woman that we all know, but sometimes find it hard to see. Ilayda’s struggles, caused by her large breasts, lead to a conflict between her identity as a swimmer and her identity as a woman. This conflict will shape the direction of our story.
VISUAL CONCEPT
I want to create a visual coherence by framing the story appropriately, particularly by showing Ilayda in close and dynamic shots to draw the audience into the story. I also plan to enhance the harmony between content and form with visuals such as frame within frame, reflection, and mirrors. Although the story consists mainly of daytime scenes and does not become too dark, natural and fragmented
FILMER
lighting will bring us closer to the difficulties that the character experiences. I want to depict these events as things that we encounter or may encounter in our daily lives. To achieve this, I will work meticulously with my team on costume, accessory, set design, and actor preparation. By doing so, I anticipate that the film’s texture will be visually correct and rich, as well as creating an intimate and genuine atmosphere.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro): € 30 000 Euro
Secured funding (at time of application): € 5000 ( … % of budget)
Has the project received any funding so far?
Confirmed production, distribution or broadcasting partners:
Other approached or potential partners:
We have applied for Culture Civic, which is one of the EU funds. We are waiting for the application dates of another EU fund, Civil Thought. We have also applied to the Film Residency section of Uppsala International Short Film Festival and the pitching section of Drama International Short Film Festival, and we are waiting for the results. Previously, we competed in the Pitching Section of the Izmir International Short Film Festival. We have a sponsorship agreement with kiralıkkamera7/24, one of the camera rental companies in Turkey. We are also in ongoing discussions with them for both post-production and co-production abroad.
THE PROJECT
ORIGINAL TITLE: MAMMUTEN
ENGLISH TITLE: THE MAMMOTH
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: NORWAY
DIRECTOR: THOMAS SMOOR ISAKSEN
SCREENWRITER: THOMAS SMOOR ISAKSEN
PRODUCER: DAG ERIK HANSEN
GENRE: X X MOCKUMENTARY
SHOOTING FORMAT:
DURATION: 13 min
LANGUAGE(S) OF DIALOGUES: NORWEGIAN
PLANNED DATES OF SHOOTING: 28-30.09.2023 (LIVE ACTION) 01.07.23 –01.12.23 (ANIMATION)
If you find the place where you belong, you must protect it, or else it ceases to exist.
SYNOPSIS
KNUT is the last resident of an abandoned island fishing village. All around him, empty houses fall into disrepair, but Knut lives as he has always done and refuses to accept that the historic settlement is nearing its end. ROBERT and his film team arrive at the island to make a news segment about Knut and his choice to stay there despite a dangerous mountain. Knut is reluctant to tell Robert anything. When Robert brings up the mountain, Knut tells the legend about the mountain, The Mammoth, and what it means for the fishing village. Knut tells of a young mammoth who loses his herd and sets out on a long journey to find it again. He wanders through harsh terrain until he reaches a small coastal village. Where he forms close bonds with a human girl, will the mammoth sacrifice everything to protect his new home? What will happen to Knut if the mammoth ceases to protect the village?
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
I will make an exciting, emotional, and socially relevant short film about centralization, loneliness, and belonging in the short film The Mammoth. The film is closely linked to local history in my county. The themes in the movie are something that people worldwide can relate to. The film will explore the fear of letting go of the familiar.
“Our identity is closely linked to our community, environment, and family. We form strong ties to where we live and the memories we form there. As we constantly streamline and centralize society,
urbanization threatens countless villages and quaint ways of life. What do we do when the society we belong to disappears and one is thrown into a lonely existence? How does the fear of losing what we hold dear affect our choices?”
VISUAL CONCEPT
The visual will jump between live-action mockumentary to 2D hand-drawn animation. When we produce the short film, we will build on the framework set up in the storyboard and its dramaturgy, visually supporting the characters’ psychological state. When the characters are in a chaotic lonely state, we will mirror this through larger images where the characters are surrounded by open space. During the characters’ development, we will focus on the subjects. Like the image sections, the color spectrum in the film must develop with the character’s psychological state. The colors will be cold and diffuse when the images are large and filled with open space. In the same way, the colors will slide into the warmth the more the characters develop. The colors will drastically change in the film’s climax when the Mammoth is faced with his fear of losing his family; we will here switch to a dark and gloomy color palette.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro): € 147 000
Secured funding (at time of application): 7,6% of budget
Has the project received any funding so far? € 8525 on 03.03.2020 by West-Norwegian Film Center
THE PROJECT
ORIGINAL TITLE: IL PANINO
ENGLISH TITLE: THE SANDWITCH
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: ITALY
DIRECTOR: CLAUDIO GIUSTI
SCREENWRITER: DAVID BOLDRINI
PRODUCER: DAVID BOLDRINI / CLAUDIO GIUSTI / ALEXANDRA HRONCOVA
GENRE: ANIMATION
SHOOTING FORMAT: 16:9
DURATION: 30 min
LANGUAGE(S) OF DIALOGUES: ITALIAN OPERA
PLANNED DATES OF SHOOTING: 2024
CONTACT DETAILS
Producer: Alexandra Hroncova +420724753713; Claudio Giusti +393464207951
Director: Claudio Giusti +393464207951
LOGLINE
The originality of the project lies in the presence of original operas written and conceived specifically for these films.
The project involves the production of three short films, one of which has already been produced: “Il Formaggio” (The Cheese), “Il Prosciutto” (The Ham) and “Il Pane” (The Bread). The three elements, combined, will make up the “Sandwich” trilogy, and each of them is named after the ingredient around which the stories will respectively revolve.
SYNOPSIS
The aim of the trilogy is to bring the youngest closer to the knowledge of opera and to raise public awareness on various issues:
‘The Cheese’ is a love story that teaches us to seize the moment and urges us to look beyond appearances;
‘The Ham’ is an ecological story that aims to raise the viewer’s awareness of the over-exploitation of animals in food production;
‘The Bread’, emphasizes the diversity and similarities between different cultures and the consequent need for dialogue between them.
The stories’ titles have been chosen to contrast Opera, historically associated with high stature and elegance; to more simple and immediate aspects, such as the ingredients of a sandwich. In this way, we aim at making opera more accessible and immersive to children, also thanks to animation.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
‘The challenge I want to take on for this project is to make the animation’s timing dialogue with the opera’s one; and so finding visual solutions to spark those emotions that in opera are usually conveyed by actors and singers. My intention for the direction is to follow and stage what concretely happens in the story and at the same time, to represent the more abstract aspects: such as hopes and emotions, right down to what the characters feel and smell. In this way, I aim at giving the feeling of biting into the very sandwich we are going to create with this trilogy: cheese, bread, and ham’
VISUAL CONCEPT
The visual scenario we want to develop for the trilogy involves a combination of very graphic animation on BGs very close to the painting. This kind of visuals goes perfectly with the original Opera music that accompanies and leads the entire shorts film.
The first episode of the project has already been produced and is competing In The Palace this year. This already contains in itself many of the traits we want to maintain for the two shorts to come.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro): € 139 530
Secured funding (at time of application): € 40 000 (28,6% of budget)
Has the project received any funding so far?
Confirmed production, distribution or broadcasting partners:
The distribution of the films will be taken over by Cinefila furthermore, the first episode of the trilogy ( Il Formaggio) has already been produced, has participated in the most important festivals, followed by agent Alexandra Hroncova and has been very well received by critics and the public.
Other approached or potential partners: To finance the project we want to draw on funds made available by the CzechFilm Found and Italy from Il Ministero della Cultura
THE PROJECT
ORIGINAL TITLE: UNETUTE ÖÖDE LAUL ENGLISH TITLE: THE SONG OF SLEEPLESS NIGHTS
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: ESTONIA
DIRECTOR: MADLI LÄÄNE
SCREENWRITER: MADLI LÄÄNE
PRODUCER: MARIANNE OSTRAT GENRE: DOCUMENTARY
SHOOTING FORMAT: HD
DURATION: 15 min
LANGUAGE(S)
OF DIALOGUES: ESTONIAN
PLANNED DATES OF SHOOTING: SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER 2023
How long does the first love last? And what happens when it ends?
SYNOPSIS
Short documentary “The Song of Sleepless Nights” is about romance. More specifically, about the first love of teenage boys, whether or not their feelings were answered. What fascinates them about a partner? How do they catch the attention of their object of desire? What would be the perfect date? What was their most romantic moment? How long does the first love last? And what happens when it ends?
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
The stories told in “The Song of Sleepless Nights” are timeless and give many people the joy or sorrow of recognition. Although the documentary focuses on the topic of relationships and love, it reveals the so-called Z-generation worldview. A generation with less experience in dealing with people face-to-face and dealing directly with problems. Sharing different experiences broadens young people’s horizons and suggests that it is possible in different ways and perhaps even more in their own way. By letting the boys search their souls, I hope that the documentary “The Song of Sleepless Nights” will create a more sincere and honest picture of teenagers instead of the usual rebellious version - young people searching for themselves and their place in the world. And they are already afraid to be alone on this path.
VISUAL CONCEPT
Visually we only see the bedrooms of the main characters. The boys tell their stories behind the camera, we don’t see talking heads in the documentary. We start the film at dusk and end at dawn
to emphasize the emotional map of the subjects. The dim room has a main focus on the bed, phones and laptops peeking through the tangled sheets. Depending on the boy’s wishes and my own perception, the speaker is either completely absent from the picture, we see him briefly and covertly (with his back to the camera, silhouette, partially, shadow, reflection) or recognizable, but still in tune with the rest of the visual language. The framing does not highlight them, but on the contrary - the boys get into the frame as if by chance: they sit in the corner of the room behind the computer, turn out of the frame under the blanket or appear as a shadow on the wall created by a floor lamp.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro): € 65 000 EUR
Secured funding (at time of application): € 41 000 EUR ( 63 % of budget)
Has the project received any funding so far? € 20 000 EUR on February 23rd, 2022 by Estonian Film Institute
€ 10 000 EUR on March 25th, 2022
The Cultural Endowment of Estonia
Confirmed production, distribution or broadcasting partners: N/A
Other approached or potential partners: N/A
THE PROJECT
ORIGINAL TITLE: ΟΙ
ENGLISH TITLE: THE WOLVES RETURN
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: GREECE
DIRECTOR: STELIOS MORAITIDIS
SCREENWRITER: STELIOS MORAITIDIS
PRODUCER: IOANNA PETEINARAKI
GENRE: ?????
SHOOTING FORMAT: DIGITAL
DURATION: 15 min
LANGUAGE(S) OF DIALOGUES: GREEK, MACEDONIAN
PLANNED DATES OF SHOOTING: JANUARY – FEBRUARY 2024
An eerie white landscape, a road littered with bones, and a secret everyone knows but tries to hide. The story of a society sunken in a moral void.
SYNOPSIS
On a snowy rural road, a diverse group of people is confronted with a macabre finding. Two workers set out to lay dirt on an icy road, end up scattering the remains of human bones along the path. In this setting, the workers along with local representatives are called to come up with a solution to the problem they unearthed. Everyone seems to be well aware of the origin of the bones, but nobody wants to reveal the secret locals have been trying to forget.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
The idea for the script derived from a news report I recently read, where a contractor attempting to pave an icy road in Siberia used soil from a field that had been concealing a mass grave. I started thinking the allegorical aspect of this incident and at the same time wondering if this could happen in Greece and how it would be encountered by the local community. Through research of modern Greek history, I found that a mass grave of about 700 people exists in northwestern Greece since the Greek civil war of 1949. Furthermore, nowadays graveyards of unclaimed refugees’ corpses are dug in villages of northeastern Greece. The idea that emerged from the reflection on these facts has to do with the production of collective false memories. “The wolves return” aims to be an allegory on how we select what to remember and what not. At the same time, it aims to be a depiction of the darkest side of humans when we act as a community that come up against past traumas that are able to disrupt our social cohesion.
FILMER FORGE PITCH 2023
VISUAL CONCEPT
The color palette of the film is defined by a combination of cool and earthly hues. A key reference for the chromatic approach is Pieter Bruegel’s painting “The Hunters in the Snow”. Concerning the cinematography, a key feature is the repetitive use of wide shots of the road where the plot unfolds. This aims of this repetition is to make the audience feel as a passive spectator. During the dialogues, we will point mainly at the person that hears the one who is talking in order to highlight the passive position of the heroes against the situation they face up to. Furthermore, during the action, the camera will approach the actors with hand-held shots that will articulate their emotional strain. Regarding the sound design, we will emphasize to the lack of sounds in order to detail the awkward silence of the snowy landscape. There will be no music throughout the film. At the final scene a sorrowful lament song will be heard when the workers light the fire that will burn the bones.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro): € 75.000
Secured funding (at time of application): € 51.000 Euro (68 % of budget)
Has the project received any funding so far? € 30.000 on 04/2022 by Greek Film Centre € 21.000 on 10/2022 by Greek National Television
Confirmed production, distribution or broadcasting partners: Greek Film Centre, Greece, contact: y.angelopoulos@gfc.gr Greek National Television (Microfilm program), Greece, contact: edemetriou@ert.gr
Other approached or potential partners: Kenno Filmi Productions (Finland), Finnish Film Foundation
A psychological drama about gay cruising in which two anonymous lovers become accidental spectators to a straight couple’s date when they must hide in a lake.
SYNOPSIS
SANDALS (19, scrawny) races through a nature reserve, looking for something. He stops suddenly; staring at him is a set of peering, predatory eyes. Sandals follows them into the brush until they reveal themselves to be TRAINERS (28, muscular). Without saying a word, they begin having sex, negotiating consent, pleasure, and fear through touch. The encounter is transactional: Sandals performs submission and Trainers domination. They hear people approaching. Panicked, they slink into the nearby pond. Hiding in the water, Sandals and Trainers watch a straight couple’s pathetic picnic all evening, exchanging judgmental glances. They cannot believe how these people so willingly adhere to their prescribed gender roles and demand the same from each other. In an act of macho bravura, the boyfriend of the couple lobs rocks into the water, accidentally hitting Trainers (a weak swimmer). The couple dashes off when they hear patrolman coming to investigate the noise. Sandals and Trainers dive underwater. Hiding from the patrolman’s light, they cling to each other, forming a profound intimacy. The patrolman leaves. Sandals and Trainers emerge from the water, collect their things, and go their separate ways.
DIRECTOR’S/WRITER’S STATEMENT
As a gay man, I am fascinated by the ways queer people foster a sense of identity and community. Often, we find solidarity by defining ourselves in contrast to heteronormativity, sneaking glances with each other and rolling our eyes at the self-defined “nonsense” of “straight culture.” However, being outside these norms do not make us immune to them. WEIRD FISHES examines the internalization of such gendered norms within gay sexuality, exploring how it can manifest psychologically in an anonymous hook-up. This film depicts and dissects the performativity such an encounter, shining a light on how consent, desire, pleasure, and fear are negotiated in the absence of speech and intimacy.
Fundamentally, this short will be a poetic exploration of queer intimacy.
VISUAL CONCEPT
The visual language of the film is intensely subjective, situating the camera as an extension of Sandals mind. Giddy with fear and excitement, the shots are blurred, choppy, claustrophobic at the start. As he is penetrated, Sandals disassociates and so too does the camera, getting lost in the leaves and the light, his body and mind subsumed by the sexual performance. In the absence of speech, the lovers negotiate the hook-up through a language of touches, each micro-gesture a specific articulation. We experience the sexual encounter through Sandals’ eyes, feeling his performance from the perspective of the actor rather than the audience. We stay with him as he and Trainers retreat into the water, suddenly made spectators to the straight couple’s dates. When they are forced to dive underwater, the world transforms for moment – more dream than reality. Framed in a pillar of light, Trainers and Sandals finally see each other fully.
BUDGET AND FINANCING
Total estimated budget (Euro):
€ 40,000
Secured funding (at time of application): 0 (0% of budget)
Has the project received any funding so far? N/A
Confirmed production, distribution or broadcasting partners:
• Hyperion Collective (Portgual). Post-production services including color correction, sound mix, and titles https://www.thehyperioncollective.com/
• Donkey Tail Productions (UK). A small film and theater company that champions queer stories. Other approached or potential partners:
• British Film Institute. The BFI Network short film fund (which Xenia and Antosh have already received) offers a grant of up to £25,000; https://www.bfi.org.uk/get-funding-support/ bfi-network/bfi-network-england-short-film-funding
• Film 4 Future Takes. British short film grant up to £90,000 per film; https://www.bfi.org.uk/ get-funding-support/create-films-tv-or-new-formats-storytelling/future-takes
• Grey Moth Production Company (grant of up to £7,000 and in-kind support, including camera and gear) https://grey-moth.com/
• BBC Commission; https://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/comedy/shortform/
