25/11/2024 - 19 prizes worth a total of €376,000 have been awarded following three days of meetings and presentations, involving upwards of 300 audiovisual sector professionals from 43 countries

This year, the awards ceremony which closed the 17th TorinoFilmLab Meeting Event proved especially celebratory, handing out a record number of 19 prizes. Following three jam-packed days of meetings and pitches which brought together upwards of 300 audiovisual professionals from 43 countries (where 41 projects, whether films or TV series, were presented, and 600 one-to-one meetings were held over the space of 8 hours), many of the 76 screenwriters, authors, directors and producers who’ve worked on their future titles over the past year, and their associated TFL tutors, saw their efforts rewarded with cash prizes – some of which funded by international partners - and new doors opening up to them for future opportunities and collaborations.

The first of the four TFL Production Awards (each worth €40,000 and aimed at FeatureLab projects) went to the Ukrainian project Antonivka by Kateryna Gornostai and Vika Khomenko. The jury composed of Didar Domehri (France), Kristy Matheson (UK), Julien Razafindranaly (France/Germany), Nada Riyadh (Egypt) and Holger Stern (Germany) praised its “intricate and thoughtful script that offers a new perspective on grief and the importance of dying peacefully”. “It’s really hard to get funding in a country overwhelmed by war, and this is a first crucial step towards producing our film”, director Kateryna Gornostai stressed to Cineuropa. “We live in Ukraine and when we travel abroad, we try to talk about what’s happening as much as possible. We believe that culture can have an impact too”. The other three production prizes flew to India (Cold Ashes Can Cause Fires by Ashmita Guha Neogi and Avantika Singh Desbouvries, “a powerful challenge to societal repression through the anger of its young female protagonist”), the Philippines (The Boy and the Fight of the Spiders by Jarell Serencio and Jed Medrano, where “the possibilities of a new cinematic world are brought to life with great emotion”) and Brazil (Yellow Chrysanthemum by André Hayato Saito and Mayra Faour Auad, whose “dynamic script celebrates the diversity of Brazilian culture”).

The two new TFL prizes - namely the SeriesLab Development Awards (consisting of €20,000 for one or two series projects) -  awarded by dedicated juries were won by Abiola Ogunbiyi’s British work The Heir (“we really enjoyed the grounded and realistic approach to a superhero story as well as the blending of traditional Nigerian cultural beliefs with a gritty, modern London setting”) and Swedish title The Making of a Terrorist by Leif Edlund and Emelia Hansson (“a heart wrenching story of one man’s fight for justice (or revenge?) which will surely strike a chord with anyone who’s ever felt let down by the system”). The ComedyLab Award (€5,000), for its part, went to Italian project The Last Queen by Stefano La Rosa and Luca Renucci, “praising singularity and ageing female characters that cinema should showcase more often”. “This recognition is proof that this new lab is a wonderful thing”, the two directors enthused to us. “[…] we’re sad we can’t share it with the others, because it really was a collective journey. What also made a lasting impression on us was the work we carried out with the film’s comedians, we’d never seen anything like it before”.

Worth a final mention among the various prizes awarded by TFL partners is the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award (€20,000), claimed by the ScriptLab project The Criminals by Turkish director Serhat Karaaslan, because “Cinema should be physical, cinema should be political, cinema should have tension, cinema should be emotional, cinema should be brave”. Last but not least, the CNC Award (€8,000) went to Josie Goes to War by Coline Confort and Perrine Prost (ScriptLab), “a very unique project exploring the timeless themes of gender roles and passion with humour and vibrancy”.

The awards won at the 17th TFL Meeting Event are as follows:

TFL Production Awards
Antonivka - Kateryna Gornostai (Ukraine)
Production: Vika Khomenko (Moon Man)

Cold Ashes Can Cause Forest Fires - Ashmita Guha Neogi (France)
Production: Avantika Singh Desbouvries (Salt for Sugar Films)

The Boy and the Fight of the Spiders - Jarell Mahinay Serencio (Philippines)
Production: Jed Medrano (FBN Media)

Yellow Chrysanthemum - André Hayato Saito (Brazil)
Production: Mayra Faour Auad (MyMama Entertainment)

SeriesLab Development Awards
The Heir (UK)
Writer & Creator: Abiola Ogunbiyi

The Making of a Terrorist (Sweden)
Writer & Creator: Leif Edlund
Writer: Emelia Hansson

ComedyLab Award
The Last Queen (Italy)
Writer & Creator: Stefano La Rosa
Writer & Director: Luca Renucci

Award partners

Eurimages Co-Production Development Award
The Criminals - Serhat Karaaslan (Turkey)

CNC Award
Josie Goes to War - Coline Confort (France)

ArteKino International Award
Explorer - Hilke Ronnfeldt (Germany/Iceland)

ARRI Award
A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra - Jacqueline Lentzou (France, Greece)

Sub-Ti Award
Sea, Star, Woman - JeunghaeYim (Korea/UK)

Sub-Ti Access Award
The Night Burns - Angelica Gallo (Italy)

IEFTA Award
Dear Insects and Other Creepy Stories - Karla Lulic (Croatia)

Post-Production Award
Sealskin - Irene Moray (Spain)

Green awards

TFL White Mirror
The Funeral - Carolina Markowicz (Brazil)

Green Filming Awards
Antonivka - Kateryna Gornostai (Ukraine)

Cold Ashes Can Cause Forest Fires - Ashmita Guha Neogi (India)

Legacy - Aliaksei Paluyan (Germany)
Production: Paulina Toenne (Tamtam Film)

(Translated from Italian)