05/04/2023 - New projects by Kirill Serebrennikov, Agnieszka Holland, Burhan Qurbani, Peter Kerekes and David Cronenberg are among the selection

Director Kirill Serebrennikov, whose new project Disappearance has been selected (© Hype Film)

The results of the first Eurimages Project Evaluation Session of 2023 have just been announced. Further to recommendations made by independent experts meeting online, the Executive Committee of the Fund has decided to support 32 feature films, including 6 documentaries and 2 animations, for a total amount of €8.275.000. Of the 32 projects supported during the session, 11 were directed or co-directed by women. This represents 36.5% of the total funding awarded.

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The films supported include the new work by acclaimed directors such as Russian-born, France-based filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov, whose latest effort Tchaikovsky's Wife [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] competed at last year's Cannes Film Festival and is now finishing Limonov: The Ballad, who has received €350,000 for Disappearance (France/Germany). Other veteran filmmakers that have received funding for their new projects are Poland's Agnieszka Holland for Green Border [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], a co-production between Poland, France, Czech Republic, Belgium (with €380 000) and Canada's David Cronenberg for The Shrouds, a co-production between Canada (also eligible for Eurimages fundings) and France (with €500,000), now set to begin shooting.

Other established filmmakers that have received funding for their new projects are Germany's Burhan Qurbani (€440,000 for No Beast So Fierce, a co-production between Germany, France and Poland), Georgia's Levan Koguashvili (€210,000 for Guria, a co-production between Georgia, Switzerland, Luxemburg, Bulgaria and Turkey), Finland's Pirjo Honkasalo (€250,000 for Orenda, a co-production Finland, Estonia and Sweden) and Belgium's Olivier Meys (€300,000 for Life Ahead, a co-production between France and Belgium).

Three second fiction features have also been funded: Aïcha (France/Tunisia/Italy) by Tunisia's Mehdi Barsaoui, with €150,000; Connections (Denmark/Sweden) by Denmark's Jeanette Nordahl, with €302,000; Dreaming of Lions (Portugal/Brazil/Spain) by Portugal's Paolo Marinou-Blanco, with €150,000; Hunger Strike Breakfast (Lithuania/Czech Republic/Latvia) by Lithuania's Karolis Kaupinis, with €180 000; I Accidentally Wrote a Book (Hungary/Netherlands) by Hungary's Nóra Lakos, with €450,000; and The Souls (Netherlands/Estonia) by Netherlands' Tallulah H Schwab, with €440,000.

On the other hand, the supported first fiction features are Our Wildest Days (Greece/Belgium/France) by Greece's Vasilis Kekatos, with €250,000; The Night Drags On (Belgium/France) by Belgium's Michiel Blanchart, with €280,000; A Light at Midday (Spain/Belgium) by Spain's Elena Manrique, with €300,000; Catane (Romania/Italy) by Romania's Ioana Mischie, with €150,000; DJ Ahmet (North Macedonia/Czech Republic/Serbia) by North Macedonia's Georgi Unkovski, with €160,000; It Would Be My Dream (Czech Republic/Slovakia) by Czech Republic's Ondřej Provaznik, with €235,000; Lady Nazca (France/Germany) by Switzerland's Damien Dorsaz, with €166,000: Laura (Sweden/Norway/Denmark) by Norway's Fanny Ovesen, with €400,000; Leonora in the Morning Light (Germany/Mexico/Romania) by Germany's Lena Vurma and Thor Klein, with €360,000; Little Thief (Czech Republic/Slovakia) by Czech Republic's Ondřej Hudeček, with €134,000; and Les Fantômes [+see also:
interview: Pauline Seigland
film profile] (France/Germany) by France's Jonathan Millet, with €320,000.

The animation films financed are Flow (Latvia/France/Belgium) by Gints Zilbalodis (with €400,000) and The Treasure of Barracuda (Spain, Belgium) by Adrià García (with €500,000).

Regarding the supported documentaries, the titles are Wishing on a Star (Italy/Slovakia/Austria/Czech Republic/Croatia) by Slovakian filmmaker Peter Kerekes (with €75,000), Bestiaries, Herbaria, Lapidaries (Italy/Switzerland) by the Italian duo Martina Parenti and Massimo D'Anolfi (with €80,000), Blood and Mud (France/Germany) by Jean-Gabriel Leynaud (with €140,000), Filipinas (Portugal/France) by Leonor Noivo (with €74,500), Noor (Belgium/France/Morocco) by Jérôme Lemaire (with €95,000) and Silent Observers (Bulgaria/Germany) by Eliza Petkova (with €53,500).