15/05/2024 - The Brussels International Film Festival and the Brussels Short Film Festival are merging their co-production markets to form a brand-new event that will unspool from 26-28 June

Director Ronny Trocker, selected with his new project, Eden Sonate

Created in 2016 with the aim of supporting promising feature-length projects in development and connecting them with potential partners, the co-production market of the Brussels International Film Festival is back for its eighth edition, which will boast an enhanced formula, as the event is merging with the co-production forum of the Brussels Short Film Festival to become the Brussels CoProMarket. In total, 26 projects will be presented to producers and vendors, but also to the various industry representatives invited along by the festival, encompassing programmers, broadcasters, post-production studios and so on. In all, around 100 professionals will assemble during these two days aimed at facilitating work and meetings. The Brussels CoProMarket is also upholding its partnership with the Marseille International Music & Cinema Festival (MCM), via the handing out of a Music & Cinema Award in both the feature-film and the short-film categories, which will allow the winning projects to automatically be selected for the next European Market for Musical Composition for Image.

Four projects will be presented in the Gap Financing section. Italian filmmaker Ronny Trocker (selected in Orizzonti at Venice with The Eremites [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ronny Trocker
film profile], and at Sundance and in the Berlin Panorama with Human Factors [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ronny Trocker
film profile]), who lives in Brussels and Berlin, will be pitching his new project, Eden Sonate, produced in Italy by Dugong Films (which recently made an impression with Disco Boy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Giacomo Abbruzzese
film profile], the winner of a Silver Bear at Berlin). Serbian actress-director Mirjana Karanovic (A Good Wife [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]) will be present with her second feature-length directorial effort, Folk Play. The third project is the Swiss production Mon nom est Warda, the feature debut by Swiss-Tunisian director Sami Kali. The final project is that of Estonian helmer Veiko Õunpuu (winner of the Orizzonti Award at Venice with Autumn Ball [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), who is preparing his seventh feature, Serafima.

As for the Up-and-coming-Producers strand, nine European companies are represented with feature films, among which we find Bangers, the feature-length fiction debut by Belgium’s Julien Henry, who revisits the world of speedway that he previously explored in his documentary Se crasher pour exister, which was presented last year at the BRIFF; a second Belgian project, Leskovik by Arthur Michel; Jeanne Dark, in which French director Guillaume Scaillet takes another look at the myth of Joan of Arc; and Der Arbeiter, the new project by Bulgarian helmer Eliza Petkova (selected in the Berlinale’s Generation section with Zhaleika [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]).

Finally, we should point out that 13 films will be showcased in the brand-new session dedicated to short films, which are listed below.

Here is the full selection of projects:

Gap Financing Sessions

Eden Sonate - Ronny Trocker
Production: Dugong Films (Italy)

Folk Play - Mirjana Karanovic
Production: This and That Productions (Serbia)

My Name Is Warda - Sami Kali
Production: Point Prod (Switzerland)

Serafima - Veiko Ounpuu
Production: Nafta Films (Estonia)

Up-and-coming Producers

Bangers - Julien Henry
Production: Alice Antoine (Tarantula) (Belgium)

Bear Hug - Alexandros Skouras
Production: Eleni Oulani (Argonauts Productions) (Greece)

Demands of a Teenage Heart - Lisa Meyer
Production: Ashley J Smith, Mario Adamson (Sisyfos Film) (Sweden)

Jeanne Dark - Guillaume Scaillet
Production: Jérôme Barthélémy (Caïmans Productions) (France)

Leskovik - Arthur Michel
Production: Laure Stemmann, Lucas Stephanik (Specimen Films) (Belgium)

Phantom Pains - Daan Groot
Production: Nicky Onstenk (Ijswater Films) (Netherlands)

Samir, the Accidental Spy - Charlotte Rabate
Production: Coralie Dias (Inter Spinas Films) (France)

The Worker - Eliza Petkova
Production: Nicolas Kronauer (Fourmat Film) (Germany)

Tout s’oublie - Pascal Thiebaux
Production: Julien Becker (Skill Lab) (Luxembourg)

Short Film Sessions

Dancing Pigeons - Christofer Nilsson
Production: Origine Films (France)

For Those - Emile Parseghian
Production: Morituri (France)

Franziska - Sarah Hirtt
Production: Eklektik (Belgium)

Hole - Danilo Stanimirovic
Production: Inkubator Rezon (Serbia)

In Her Belly - Thinh Nguyen
Production: Paloma Productions (Denmark)

Killa Bee - Hyun Lories
Production: Mirage Films (Belgium)

Limbo - Patricia Figueiredo
Production: Animais (Portugal)

Marie, Sweetie - Vivian Säde
Production: Allfilm (Estonia)

Pithead - Wannes Vanspauwen, Pol de Plecker
Production: Animal Tank (Belgium)

The Figure’s Fall - Mathilde Supe
Production: La Cellule Productions (France)

The Galipot’s Lair - Raphaël Delorme-Duc
Production: Iota Production (Belgium)

The Hour Between Dog and Wolf - Terézia Halamová
Production: Other Stories (Czech Republic)

The Polymorphs - Vincent Smitz
Production: White Boat Pictures (Belgium)

(Translated from French)