28/07/2011

Fifteen projects hailing from Poland, the Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, Germany, Portugal, the UK, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and France are lined up for the 47th Co-production Forum, to be held in Locarno on August 6. It is organised by the European Producers Club (EPC) presided by Britain’s Chris Curling and still headed by Alexandra Lebret.

Standing out among the selected titles are two projects by Italian company Gagarin: Donato Pisani’s La Legge del Rugby (“The Law of Rugby”); and Vittorio Rifranti’s Elsewhere, which centres on four students on an out-of-season holiday by the sea, who film each other and send the images to a housebound friend. But things take a tragic turn…

Germany is represented by Rialto (Cine Plus Filmproduktion); and Joerg Hiller- Garcia’s White Men (produced by Motivo Films), which traces the misadventures of five Nazi sailors who run aground on the Colombian coast.

Genre films are in the spotlight with Samuel Lema Ferreira’s psychopath-themed Desde Dentro (“From Inside”, Visual Think – Spain); and Stephen Hughes’s horror film in pre-production Krampus (Achille Entertainment – co-produced by the UK and Austria).

Spain is also represented at the Forum by Maria Salgado Gispert’s Rainy Days (co-produced by Aquellare Servicios Cinematograficos, Promarfi Futuro 2010 and Pensa & Roca Producciones).

Portugal will also put in an appearance with Inês Oliveira’s project Bobo (David & Golias - Portugal), which centres on the encounter between a single mother and a young woman from Guinea-Bissau.

Meanwhile, Switzerland is counting on Georg Isenmann’s On a Day Like This (Langfilm) about a man who discovers that starting a new life and getting back to basics isn’t so easy.

Eastern Europe is represented by Artur Urbański’s Father (Apple Film Production); and Viliam Docolomanský’s The Waiting Room (Prvni verejnopravni – Czech Republic).

Also in the line-up are Delphine Lehericey’s Puppy Love (Entre Chien et Loup – Belgium); and Gorune Aprikian’s Varto (Araprod – France), which looks back at the difficult experiences of a Turkish teenager who tries to save some children during the Armenian Genocide in 1915 with present-day consequences bound up with family secrets (the project is co-produced with Armenia’s Illusion Film and Greece’s Boo Film).

Finally, also flying the French flag at the European Producers Club’s Locarno event is Olivier Delahaye and Dani Kouyaté’s The Hunter, The Woman and The Labyrinth (Odelion Films).

(Translated from French)