28/11/2012 - Four prizes worth €60,000 to €110,000 have been given out. Aida Begic, Savina Neirotti and Isabelle Fauvel comment on the fifth TFL edition

Contemporary native Americans, spectators held hostage in a theatre, a French lawyer who dreams of becoming the king of Patagonia and a soul who returns to the world of the living - these are all elements at the centre of the four winner projects from this year’s TorinoFilmLab (25-27 November), assigned at the end of a rich edition (read the news story) which saw the participation of over two hundred cinema professionals from all around the world.

The projects which received Production Awards were: Land by Babak Jalali (Italy/France/United States ‐ awarded €110,000), ­Stage Fright by Yorgos Zois (Greece/France/Croatia ‐ awarded €80,000), Rey by Niles Atallah (Chile/France ‐ awarded €70,000) and Tikkun by Avishai Sivan (Israel ‐ €60,000).

"Taking decisions was difficult, all the projects were of the highest quality,” Bosnian director Aida Begic, a member of the jury said. “I am sure, that with or without support, all the projects will be carried out.” The journey of her Children of Sarajevo actually started with TFL: “I was here two years ago. I started shooting my film a year after winning the Production Award. Beyond the money, the professional support was crucial. TFL is also a respectable name which helps open doors to more financial backing."

The other awards given out this year included an Audience Award (€ 30,000, voted for by every Meeting Event attendant from the FrameWork projects) which went to The Garbage Helicopter by Swede ­Jonas Selberg Augustsen; an International Relations ARTE Prize (€6,000, given by Arte France Cinéma to one of the Script&Pitch projects) which went to Iris by Laszlo Nemes (Hungary); a Post Production Award EP2C (€1,000, which will enable a project producer to take part in a post-production workshop) which went to Andreas Emanuelsson from Bob Films (Sweden), producer of The Garbage Helicopter; and the new Les Arcs Coproduction Village Prize (which automatically qualifies winners to be selected for the coproduction village in Les Arcs) which went to Beast by Michael Pierce.

"A dream edition," according to lab director Savina Neirotti, "if you consider the cuts that we, like everyone else, have had to undergo. We are starting to see our films in Cannes, in Berlin. These months have seen the beginning of shooting for five films recognised during TFL, among which Salvo by Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza, and Il Sud è niente by Fabio Mollo. The challenge now is to get these films to be seen, not just made. In order to do this, we signed an agreement with UniversCiné, a video on demand platform present in eight European countries. Because produced films aren’t just the awarded ones.” As for next year’s Turin Film Festival edition, “that’s not a problem. Luckily, there are no other coproduction markets in October.”

A few words to finish off, on the new Adapt Lab, a programme for adapting novels into films (read the news story), which is set to become TFL’s third pillar, after Script&Pitch and FrameWork. "The producing audience took more of an interest than expected,” Isabelle Fauvel (Initiative Film), a tutor and head of the programme, "the proposed adaptations were truly films made for cinema. Eight European screenwriters worked on eight books profoundly rooted in Italian reality. That is the advantage of adaptations. If the book is good, even a Spaniard can write on the mafia. We are already thinking about what needs to be improved. For instance, sending out information to participants before the start of the workshop, in order to help the contact building." Results will be seen during the 2013 TFL Meeting Event.

(Translated from Italian)