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ARRAS 2019 Arras Days

Seven projects to be pitched at Arras Days

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- Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov and Decho Taralezhkov will be in the spotlight, alongside Anca Damian, Adina Dulcu, Miha Mazzini, Robert Budina, Uta Beria and Nana Janelidze

Seven projects to be pitched at Arras Days
Directors Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, whose new project Triumph has been selected

Running within the 20th Arras Film Festival (scheduled from 8 to 17 November 2019 – read our news), the 8th edition of Arras Days will unveil seven projects currently being written which are set to be pitched to a jury of three professionals (producers Delphine Schmit and Pavlina Jeleva, and journalist Patrice Carré) on Saturday 16 November, and which will be battling it out for two development grants. Also intended to act as a coproduction and funding platform, Arras Days will provide any producers, distributers and sales agents interested in these projects with an opportunity to discover them in situ.

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One project which stands out amongst others in the running is Triumph, written by the Bulgarians Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov and Decho Taralezhkov, which is set to be directed by the first two of the three. It will be the duo’s 4th feature film after The Lesson [+see also:
film review
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interview: Kristina Grozeva, Petar Val…
interview: Margita Gosheva
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]
(discovered in Toronto and the winner of San Sebastian’s New Directors prize in 2014), Glory [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Petar Valchanov
interview: Petar Valchanov, Kristina G…
film profile
]
(well received in 2016 in competition in Locarno) and The Father [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: GoCritic! Interview: Kristi…
interview: Kristina Grozeva, Petar Val…
film profile
]
(which scooped the Crystal Globe for Best Film at this year’s Karlovy Vary, as well as taking home the main funding grant awarded by Arras Days 2016).

Romania’s Anca Damian will also be in attendance with her project Insula. The eclectic filmmaker’s filmography includes seven feature films, including the animated documentaries Crulic – The Path to Beyond [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Anca Damian
film profile
]
(in competition in Locarno in 2011 and the 2012 Annecy champion) and The Magic Mountain [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
(which received a Special Mention from the jury at Karlovy Vary 2015), the fiction titles Crossing Dates (2008), A Very Unsettled Summer [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(2013), In Perfect Health [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(2017) and Moon Hotel Kabul [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(which claimed the Best Direction award in Warsaw last year), and the animated film Marona’s Fantastic Tale [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
(unveiled in competition in Annecy and nominated for the European Film Award in 2019).

Another Romanian director will be participating in this year’s edition of Arras Days; namely Adina Dulcu, who will be pitching Chemistry, the filmmaker’s first feature-length work, produced by Libra Film.

Slovenia’s Miha Mazzini, meanwhile, will pitch the project Place 1. The prolific writer made a name for himself with his first feature film, Erased [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: GoCritic! Interview: Miha M…
film profile
]
.

Drops of Water is likewise in the running, which will be the 3rd full-length work by Albania’s Robert Budina after Agon (his country’s candidate at the 2014 Oscars) and A Shelter Among the Clouds [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Robert Budina
film profile
]
(2018).

Georgian Uta Beria, who will unveil her first feature film Negative Numbers [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Uta Beria
film profile
]
in a world premiere in competition in Arras, will also be pitching her new project at Arras Days: Love in Time of Riot.

Last but not least, her compatriot Nana Janelidze will also be in attendance with her project Where Is Liza Going, produced by N&N and already endorsed by the Georgian National Film Center. The co-screenwriter of Repentance (the winner of Cannes’ Grand Prix in 1987 and nominated for the 1988 Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film) has already directed one fiction feature (Lullaby in 1994), as well as two documentaries (The Knights of Georgian Chant in 2010 and One Drop of Georgia in 2002).

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(Translated from French)

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