BRIFF 2022 Brussels Co-Production Market

The 6th Brussels Co-Production Market boasts a first-class line-up

05/05/2022 - The market is returning on 29 and 30 June, showcasing 21 projects whose teams are hoping to link up with potential production partners

Director Denis Do, whose new project Sorya has been selected

The Brussels Co-Production Market is back for its 6th edition, unspooling on 29 and 30 June, as ever, within Brussels International Film Festival (BRIFF). Created in 2016, its aim is to support promising feature film projects in development and to put them in contact with potential partners.

Last year, the Brussels Co-Production Market created two distinct sections: Gap Financing Sessions, aimed at promoting exchanges between European producers looking for Belgian minority co-producers, and the Up: Up-and-Coming Producers section, dedicated to producers starting out in their careers. In all, 21 projects hailing from 16 countries have been selected, including 9 projects led by women directors.

Jostling among the various projects looking for Belgian co-producers and featuring in the Gap Financing Sessions are two French projects (Sorya by Denis Do and The Good Thief by Emiliano Torres), two Serbian projects (The Excursion by Miroslav Terzić, and The Myth of a Real Man by Lee Filipovskic), one Albanian project (Man of the House by Andamion Muratah), one Swedish-Icelandic project (The Mountain by Ásthildur Kjartansdóttir) and another from Uruguay.

Interestingly, the BRIFF are linking up with Bozar this year in order to showcase three films hailing from the Arab world, as part of the multidisciplinary Halaqat project. The three projects in question are Carnaval by Mohamed Siam (Kuwait/Egypt), Plum Season by Rim Mehdi (Morocco) and Where the Wind Comes From [+see also:
film review
interview: Amel Guellaty
film profile] (working title: Tunis-Djerba) by Amel Guellaty (Tunisia/France).

The Up: Up-and-Coming Producers section is intended to shine a light on emerging European production firms. It will feature Belgium’s Bo Dream Productions, a local outfit presenting Medusas, a first feature film by Ely Chevillot. Alongside them we’ll find Spain’s El Gatoverde Producciones (promoting Cracks by Elisa Puerto Aubel); Greece’s Argonauts Productions (pushing Thanos Psichogios’ Circular Motion); Hungary’s Good Kids Productions (with István Kovács’ A Siege); Denmark’s Snowglobe (with Tommy Oksen’s A Springsteen Song); Latvia’s Kultfilma (with Dzintars Dreibergs’ Escape Net); Bulgaria’s Garti Films and Portokal (with Jordan Petkov’s Resonance), and, last but not least, two German firms (Projector23 GmbH & Co KG with Martina Sakova’s Lovebots, and Voices Films with Borbála Nagy’s Nothing to See Here) and two French (Alta Rocca Films with Chabname Zariab’s Bells of Kaboul, and Yukunkun Productions with Zoel Aeschbacher’s Underdog).

Finally, the Music & Cinema Award is set to be handed out at the end of the Market - in partnership with Marseille’s International Music & Cinema Festival (MCM) - which will see the winning project automatically selected for the next European Market for Film Music, unfolding within the MCM.

The selected projects are as follows:

Gap Financing Sessions

Man of the House - Andamion Murataj (Albania)
Production: Lissus Media

Sorya - Denis Do (France)
Production: Special Touch Studios

The Excursion - Miroslav Terzić (Serbia)
Production: This and That Productions

The Good Thief - Emiliano Torres (France)
Production: Eaux Vives

The Mountain (working title) - Ásthildur Kjartansdóttir (Sweden/Iceland)
Production: LittleBig Productions AB and Film Partner Iceland ehf

The Myth of a Real Man - Lee Filipovskic (Serbia)
Production: Dart Film

The Passing Deaths - Agustin Banchero (Uruguay)
Production: Tarkio Films

Gap Financing Sessions – Halaqat Projects

Carnaval - Mohamed Siam (Kuwait/Egypt)
Production: Linked Production

Plum Season - Rim Mejdi (Morocco)
Production: Tifaw Films Production