13/08/2024 - Four films in post-production hailing from Germany, Georgia, Lithuania and Turkey will be taking part in the gathering’s industry platform

WIP Europa, the San Sebastián Film Festival’s section aimed at European films at the work-in-progress stage, has chosen titles from Germany, Georgia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic and Turkey for its upcoming edition, which will unspool from 23-25 September as an integral part of the industry activities hosted by the gathering.

The four titles, three of which are first or second features, will be duking it out for the WIP Europa Industry Award (handed out by the companies Best Digital, Bteam Pictures, Deluxe Content Services Spain, Dolby Labs, Laserfilm Cine y Vídeo, Nephilim Producciones, No Problem Sonido and Sherlock Films), which consists of the post-production of one of the movies presented, up to and including a DCP subtitled in English and the Spanish distribution of the winning film, as well as the WIP Europa Award for the film that wins the Industry Award, endowed with €10,000 for the majority producer of that same movie.

The selected films include China Sea, the second film by Lithuania’s Jurgis Matulevicius, who was nominated for the European Discovery – Prix FIPRESCI at the European Film Awards with his first feature, Isaac [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jurgis Matulevičius
film profile]. In the film, a martial-arts champion is disqualified from his country’s team for aggressive behaviour and holes up in the China Sea, a restaurant owned by his only friend, as he plans to start a new life. Georgia’s Nino Akhvlediani is also selected with her third feature, In a Grove, in which she tells the story of two brothers, one an activist who is committed to various causes and the other a student who makes a surprise return visit to Georgia from Germany in an attempt to shed light on the strange circumstances of his older brother’s death.

In addition, the section will also include two first features: Blue Marks (working title) by Germany’s Sarah Miro Fischer, in which she tackles how her main character reacts to accusations of sexual assault made against her brother; and Memento Non Mori by Turkey’s Seyhmus Altun, a movie in which, in the wake of a devastating fire, a girl has to begin taking on huge responsibilities to help her family.

Here is a list of the selected projects:

In a Grove (Usier Tevrshi) – Nino Akhvlediani (Georgia)
Producer: Cinetech Film Production

Memento Non Mori – Seyhmus Altun (Turkey)
Producer: Jurnal Kolektif

China Sea – Jurgis Matulevicius (Lithuania/Poland/Czech Republic)
Producers: Film Jam, Lava Films, Bionaut

Blue Marks (Blaue Flecken) (working title) – Sarah Miro Fischer (Germany)
Producer: Deutsche Film und Fernsekhkademie

(Translated from Spanish)