EUROPEAN WORK IN PROGRESS COLOGNE 2023 Awards
European Work in Progress Cologne and the International Distribution Summit announce their award winners
- Nine prizes worth over €61,500 have been handed out after 30 projects participated in the gathering
It’s a wrap for this year’s European Work in Progress Cologne (EWIP, 16-18 October) and International Distribution Summit (IDS, 17-19 October). The two Cologne-based events saw the participation of over 250 industry representatives active in the fields of festivals, production, distribution, world sales, financing and marketing.
On the evening of 17 October, the international jury of experts – made up of Michael Stütz (head of the Panorama section at the Berlinale), Holger Stern (ZDF/ARTE feature-film editor), Lorna Lee Torres (International Sales, Magnolia Pictures), Reta Guetg (head of the Industry section at the Zurich Film Festival) and Hattie Yu (film producer and consultant) – handed out nine awards (worth over €61,500) to the most deserving of the 30 participating projects showcased at the gathering. The prizes were granted by sponsors and partners K13 Studios, MMC Film & TV Studios, TorinoFilmLab, LAVAlabs Moving Images, Gruvi, Way Film and mm filmpresse.
Among this year’s award-winning projects are Jasmin Gordon’s Maximage-produced drama The Courageous [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Switzerland), the winner of the K13 Studios Award (worth €10,000 for Dolby Atmos mixing), as well as Ivona Juka’s 1950s Yugoslavia-set LGBT tale Strangers in the Night (Croatia/Canada/Cyprus/Bosnia and Herzegovina/Serbia/Poland) and Ma Xue’s Chinese-French co-production Aroma Dream, both in receipt of the MMC Studios Awards, worth €5,000 and €10,000, respectively.
Once again, the Cinenova theatre served as the venue for the pitches, one-to-one meetings, panel discussions and case studies. EWIP was backed by the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW and organised in co-operation with KölnBusiness. Since its inception, EWIP has been held in the run-up to the Film Festival Cologne (19-26 October), with which it has also established a solid partnership.
On the evening of 18 October, the winner of the Best International Innovation Distribution Award was announced. The brand-new prize, endowed with €10,000 in services offered by Comscore and Gruvi, aims to “recognise and reward the work and efforts of international colleagues to bring quality films to audiences through innovative and ground-breaking new models and strategies that inspire the film industry”. It went to Enrique Costa, co-founder and managing director of Spain’s Elastica Films.
Sabine Chemaly, who handed out the award, stated: “With Elastica Films, Enrique Costa is clearly the best newcomer in recent years. He launched the company in Cannes in 2021 in the midst of the pandemic, taking high risks as an entrepreneur. But his passion was, and is, very strong. It has been the driving force in creating a brand that many, in years, have not yet managed to establish. He is a distributor that has based its success not only on a very diverse, strong and curated selection of films, but also on a good and solid co-operation with other industry stakeholders.”
The IDS is funded by the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW and the Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA), and is supported by MMC Film & TV Studios, AG Verleih, EWIP, Creative Europe Desk NRW and Film Festival Cologne.
Here is the full list of award winners:
European Work in Progress
K13 Studios Award (worth €10,000 for Dolby Atmos mixing)
The Courageous – Jasmin Gordon (Switzerland)
Producer: Maximage
K13 Studios Award (worth €5,000 for synchronisation)
Armand [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel
film profile] - Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel (Norway/Netherlands/Sweden/Germany)
Producer: Eye Eye Pictures
MMC Studios Award (worth €10,000)
Aroma Dream – Ma Xue (China/France)
Producers: Beijing Drama Pictures (China), House on Fire (France)
MMC Studios Award (worth €5,000 for stage and room rental services)
Strangers in the Night – Ivona Juka (Croatia/Canada/Cyprus/Bosnia and Herzegovina/Serbia/Poland)
Producer: 4Film
LAVAlabs Moving Images Award
Transamazonia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pia Marais
film profile] - Pia Marais (France/Germany/Switzerland/Brazil/Taiwan)
Producers: Pandora Film Produktion (Germany), GAÏJIN (France)
TorinoFilmLab Audience Design Award
Vena - Chiara Fleischhacker (Germany)
Producer: Neue Bioskop Film GmbH
mm filmpresse Award
Waterdrop [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – Robert Budina (Albania/Romania/Italy/Kosovo/North Macedonia)
Producers: Erafilm (Albania), Avanpost (Romania)
Gruvi Award
The Wolves Always Come at Night [+see also:
film review
film profile] – Gabrielle Brady (Mongolia/Australia/Germany)
Producers: Chromosom Film (Germany), Over Here Productions (Australia), Guru Media (Mongolia)
Way Film Translation Award
The Night before Easter – Dagim Sissay (Ethiopia)
Producer: History Film Company
International Distribution Summit
Best International Innovation Distribution Award
Enrique Costa – Elastica Films (Spain)
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