03/12/2024 - Feature films in post-production and in search of international sales agents are set to be showcased in the Alpine festival's Industry Village

Having previously revealed its programme (read our article), together with the 18 projects taking part in the Co-Production Village (article) and the eight promising works selected for the Talent Village (article), the Les Arcs Film Festival (whose 16th edition is running 14 – 21 December) has now unveiled its long-awaited list of the 13 films in post-production selected for its Work in Progress (WiP) section, will is due to unspool Sunday 15 December.

An incredibly popular event among international sales agents and selectors from major festivals, last year’s WiP line-up notably revealed first images from Toxic [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Saulė Bliuvaitė
film profile] by Lithuania’s Saulė Bliuvaitė (who later triumphed in Locarno), as well as from two films presented in this summer’s Toronto Film Festival (The Swedish Torpedo [+see also:
film review
interview: Frida Kempff
film profile] by Sweden’s Frida Kempff and U Are The Universe [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pavlo Ostrikov
film profile] by Ukraine’s Pavlo Ostrikov) and from Peaches Goes Bananas [+see also:
film review
interview: Marie Losier
film profile] by French director Marie Losier (which world premiered in Venice’s Giornate degli Autori line-up).

This year, the selection concocted by Frédéric Boyer (artistic director of the Arcs Film Festival) will consist of 13 films in post-production, from which lengthy clips (lasting eight minutes in total) are set to be presented by filmmakers and their producers to international sales agents, distributers and festival programmers who are attending the Savoy event. Eight first feature films, one second feature film and four films by established filmmakers will jostle among these 13 titles (selected from among 150 candidates) hailing from 21 countries.

Works stealing focus in the showcase include Slovakian director Ivan Ostrochovsky’s 5th feature film after his docu-fiction film Velvet Terrorists [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (screened in Karlovy Vary’s East of the West section in 2013 and in the Berlinale Forum in 2014), Koza [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ivan Ostrochovský
film profile] (screened in the Berlinale Forum in 2015), Servants [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ivan Ostrochovský
film profile] (unveiled in the 2020 Berlinale’s Encounters competition) and the documentary Photophobia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ivan Ostrochovský, Pavol Pe…
film profile] (awarded the Europa Cinemas Label in Venice’s 2023 Giornate degli Autori line-up), the 3rd feature film by the German director of Kosovar origin Visar Morina, following Babai [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Visar Morina
film profile] (awarded the Best Director trophy in Karlovy Vary 2015) and Exile [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Visar Morina
film profile] (unveiled in competition at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, before travelling on to the Berlinale’s Panorama line-up and scooping Best Film in Sarajevo), and the 3rd feature film by French filmmaker Laurent Slama (also known as Élizabeth Vogler) primarily following Roaring ‘20s [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
film profile] (in competition in Tribeca in 2021).

The second feature film by Austrian director Alexandra Makarová (discovered in 2018 via Crush My Heart [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]) will also grace the festival agenda, alongside eight first feature films by Finland’s Lauri-Matti Parppei, Norway’s Elle Sofe Sara, fellow Norwegian Janicke Askevold, France’s Maxence Voiseux, Spain’s Jaume Claret Muxart (read our news), Greek director Thanasis Neofotistos (read our interview) and Dutch filmmakers Thom Lunshof and Sven Bresser.

Three prizes are up for grabs this year: the TitraFilm Prize (consisting of 10,000 euros’ worth of image and sound post-production services) will be awarded by a jury composed of Beatrice Fiorentino (general delegate of Venice’s Critics’ Week), Ivo Andrle (Aerofilms) and Hrönn Marinósdóttir (director of the Reykjavik International Film Festival); the Alphapanda Audience Engagement Prize (focused on digital film marketing and endowed with 6,000 euros) will be decided upon by critic Marilou Duponchel, Joan Sala (Filmin) and Joanna Solecka, and the 22D Music Prize (10,000 euros to fund production of an original score) will be bestowed by international sales agent Fionnuala Jamison (managing director at mk2 Films), Icelandic composer Atli Örvarsson and Emmanuel Delétang.

It’s also worth noting that this year’s Best New Female Film Music Composer Prize (in partnership with Sacem) will be awarded to Audrey Ismaël, whose recent filmography includes Julien Colonna’s The Kingdom [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Julien Colonna
film profile].

The selection is as follows:

Competition

A Light That Never Goes Out - Lauri-Matti Parppei
Production: Made (Finland), Goodtime Pictures (Norway)

Arru - Elle Sofe Sara
Production: STÆR (Norway), Garagefilm International AB (Sweden), It’s Alive Films (Finland)

A Second Life - Laurent Slama
Production: 21Juin Cinéma (France)

First Zone - Thom Lunshof
Production: Makaki Productions (the Netherlands)

Gabin - Maxence Voiseux
Production: Alter Ego Production (France), AMA FILM (Germany), Rita Productions (Switzerland)

Hatixhe and Saban - Visar Morina
Production: Vicky Bane (Germany), Schuldenberg Films (Germany), Eagle Eye Films Kosova (Kosovo), Vertigo Ljubljana (Slovenia), On Film Production (Albania), List Production (North Macedonia), Quetzalcoatl (Belgium)

Perla - Alexandra Makarová
Production: Golden Girls Film (Austria), Hailstone (Slovakia)

Reedland - Sven Bresser
Production: Viking Film (the Netherlands), A Private View (Belgium)

Solomamma - Janicke Askevold
Production: Bacon Pictures Oslo (Norway), Bacon Pictures Copenhagen (Denmark), Mistrus Media (Latvia), Dansu Films (Lithuania), It's Alive (Finland)

Strange River - Jaume Claret Muxart
Production: ZuZú Cinema (Spain), Miramemira (Spain), Schuldenberg Films GmbH (Germany)

The Boy With The Light Blue Eyes - Thanasis Neofotistos
Production: Argonauts Productions (Greece), Atalante Productions (Greece), Ye Films Ltd (Cyprus), Sektor Film (Macedonia), Studio Corvus (Croatia), Sense Production (Serbia), Luna Film (Romania), Willa (USA), Astrakan Films (USA), Cold Iron Pictures (USA)

The Spring - Ivan Ostrochovsky
Production: Punkchart films (Slovakia), Negativ Film Productions (Czech Republic), Proton Cinema (Hungary), Slovak Television and Radio (Slovakia), Czech Television (Czech Republic), Anna Geislerová (Czech Republic)

Out of Competition (in partnership with the Icelandic Film Center)

The Fires - Ugla Hauksdottir
Production: Netop Film (Iceland), Madants (Poland)
International sales: Bankside Films

(Translated from French)