Unspooling within the 23rd Arras Film Festival (running 4 – 13 November – read our news and our interview with Nadia Paschetto), the 11th edition of Arras Days is set to unveil eight projects currently in the writing phase, which will be pitched to a jury of three professionals (Slovenia’s Nerina Kocjancic, Italy’s Paolo Bertolin and France’s Dominique Welinski) on Saturday 16 November and will battle it out for two development grants (courtesy of the festival itself and the Town of Arras). Also conceived of as a co-production and funding platform, Arras Days will likewise provide an opportunity for producers, distributors and sales agents who are interested in these projects to discover them in situ.

(El artículo continúa más abajo - Inf. publicitaria)

Standing especially tall among the various projects in the showcase are upcoming feature films by Czech director Petr Vaclav (who competed in San Sebastián this year, distinguishing himself with Il Boemo [+lee también:
crítica
tráiler
entrevista: Petr Vaclav
ficha de la película]), Macedonia’s Teona Strugar Mitevska (who spent time in the 2019 Berlinale competition with God Exists, Her Name is Petrunya [+lee también:
crítica
tráiler
entrevista: Labina Mitevska
entrevista: Teona Strugar Mitevska
ficha de la película] and recently in Venice’s Orizzonti line-up via The Happiest Man in the World [+lee también:
crítica
tráiler
entrevista: Teona Strugar Mitevska
ficha de la película], to name but two outings) and Slovakia’s Michal Blasko (likewise well-received in Venice’s Orizzonti section via Victim [+lee también:
crítica
tráiler
entrevista: Michal Blaško
ficha de la película]). The line-up also includes Serbia’s Milos Pusic (whose most recent opus, Working Class Heroes [+lee también:
crítica
tráiler
entrevista: Miloš Pušić
ficha de la película], enjoyed its premiere in the Berlinale’s Panorama section this year), Montenegro’s Ivan Bakrac (revealed in Karlovy Vary by way of After the Winter [+lee también:
crítica
tráiler
entrevista: Ivan Bakrač
ficha de la película]), the Romanian duo composed of Alexandru Baciu (a screenwriter who has notably worked on Radu Muntean’s films) and Maria Popistasu, their compatriot Emmanuel Parvu (well-received last year in San Sebastián’s New Directors line-up, thanks to Mikado [+lee también:
crítica
tráiler
entrevista: Emanuel Pârvu
ficha de la película]) and Belgium’s Peter Monsaert (who turned heads in Toronto and in San Sebastián’s New Directors section in 2016, courtesy of Flemish Heaven [+lee también:
crítica
tráiler
entrevista: Peter Monsaert
ficha de la película]).

Arras Days will also be introducing a new programme this year, namely a focus section homing in on a different country each year, with Slovenia kicking things off on this occasion with five titles in the offing: two works in progress (directed by Ziga Virc and Janez Burger) and three in development (courtesy of Klemen Dvornik, Darko Stante and Ester Ivakic).

Last but not least, a round table about "the first film adventure", involving French directors Thomas Lilti and Constance Meyer, is set to grace the agenda.

The projects are as follows:

Arras Days - Development Grants

1989 – Peter Monsaert (Belgium)
Valerie De Wispelaere is a hard-as-nails business woman and the chosen successor of her father Robert in the family’s woodworking business. When Robert is beaten up one night, Valerie discovers her family’s dark history and realises she is part of a bloodline where cruelty and deceit are inherently present. How will she deal with this, and can she fight the ruthlessness she feels within herself?

Caterina - Petr Vaclav (Czech Republic)
Caterina is a soprano, a rising star in the 18th century world of Italian opera. Of poor extraction, this adulated and even divinized woman is also despised, scorned, slandered, oppressed and abused... Rich and independent, without a husband or a guardian, she fascinates others. But she has to face the prejudices and various forms of domination that her time has in store for her.

Mother – Teona Strugar Mitevska (North Macedonia)
Mother is an elaborate story about three characters, a mother superior, a nun and a priest, living in a convent in the heart of Kolkata. As the Bengali famine rages outside the convent’s walls, these three individuals are forced to deal with fundamental questions relating to existence, purpose and life. Mother is ambitious and gives herself entirely to her life’s calling, to serve the church. Her dream is to create her own order which would serve the poorest of the poor. Agnieszka, the nun who is her designated successor, is in deep trouble, secretly pregnant with a love child, which is an unacceptable situation. Father Frederick, Mother’s confessor, is a man in love. After years of waiting, Mother receives a letter from the Vatican giving her permission to start her own religious order. This is where her dilemma arises and her doubts overwhelm her.

Jugoslavia – Ivan Bakrac (Montenegro)
After her husband dies and her son moves abroad, Jugoslava spends her days mostly alone. On her 55th birthday, she decides to make a few changes in her life. To combat loneliness, and to distance herself from the family home which is packed with memories, she takes a summer vacation to find a new flat. Jugoslava becomes visibly happier with every property visit she makes. She’s also becoming obsessed with the lives of other people in their intimate spaces. This quest, however, will change her life in a way she never imagined. While visiting one of the flats, Jugoslava finds herself caught in fate’s claws.

Y – Alexandru Baciu and Maria Popistasu (Romania)
Olga, her father and her two sisters have been living a carefree life thanks to the fortune of her grandmother, a former lawyer. The sudden death of the latter upsets the family balance. The most affected member is Olga, who bears the burden of a deathbed confession made by her grandmother: the international adoption files she handled after the Romanian Revolution are riddled with mistakes and not much is known about the fate of some of the children. In order to uncover evidence which might clear Ileana’s name and her own inner conscience, Olga is forced to dig up the past and subsequently make peace with it.

Three Kilometers To the End of the World – Emmanuel Parvu (Romania)
Adi, a 17-year-old teenager in a poor village in the Danube Delta, is studying in a larger city. During the summer vacation, he falls in love with a student from Bucharest who’s holidaying there for a few days. After the two boys are seen by locals, kissing and holding hands at a disco, Adi is badly beaten up. Confronted with the truth about their son’s sexuality, his parents express themselves differently. For his mother, Adi is possessed by the Devil and needs the church’s help. For his father, being gay is simply unacceptable… which is also the opinion of most people in the village.

Glycerin – Milos Pusic (Serbia)
Jova, a washed-up punk rocker nearing forty, works as a deliveryman. Burnt out, despondent and embittered, he half-asses his job and life with no ambition at all. He reminisces about the “glory days” of his forgotten and obscure band Glycerin. With most of his friends having moved on to functional adult lives, Jova spends his days mostly alone, going to punk gigs and arguing on the internet about what constitutes “real punk”. After a chance encounter with a lone fan, he decides to get his old band back together, to the excitement of absolutely no one.

Guilt – Michal Blasko (Slovakia)
This story sees an immigrant family having to make a decision over their future over the course of one night in their flat. Young Sydu comes home and confesses to his parents that he and his friends have hurt someone. As the night progresses, Sydu’s family gradually discovers the extent of his guilt. The story doesn’t revolve around the individual’s guilt or innocence; instead, the film analyses and exposes the family’s inner motives. How will they respond to the truth? Will they decide to unconditionally support Sydu and thus put the welfare of their family over the good of the whole community?

Focus on Slovenia

Work in Progress

Shooting Blanks [+lee también:
crítica
ficha de la película] – Ziga Virc
A man is trying to prevent a German retail chain from tearing down a statue of his father, a decorated World War II hero, and building a store on the site. But as he tries to preserve the memory of the resistance movement, he unwittingly destroys his daughter’s life. In less than twenty-four hours, everyone’s lives are turned completely upside down in a series of tragicomic events.

Observing [+lee también:
crítica
tráiler
entrevista: Janez Burger
ficha de la película] – Janez Burger
Lara, a paramedic intern, helps to bring a young man into hospital after he is beaten up, with his brutal attack having been live-streamed on Facebook. The clip is seen by 20,000 people but no-one calls the police. Even though the man is in a coma, Lara starts to receive video clips from his Facebook profile, showing unidentified individuals watching him being assaulted. She reports these videos to a detective, who launches an investigation. The various viewers appearing in the video clips soon become a nightmare for her in real life. And then she comes to realise that she, too, is an accomplice in this horrible incident.

In Development

Block 5 - Klemen Dvornik
When nerdy, lonesome Mia realizes that the playground in her new block might be turned into a parking lot, she teams up with local skateboarders - led by Rudi, her secret crush - in order to save it from destruction. As they prepare their rebellion and fight the adults around them, Mia must find her voice within the group, but Alma - a fierce tomboy and Rudi’s best friend - doesn’t make it easy for her.

The Lost Son – Darko Stante
In order to supress the painful memories of his traumatic and abusive childhood, successful thirty-eight-year-old detective Andrej decided to cut all ties with his family and never tell anyone about them, not even his girlfriend Anna. When Andrej’s brother Kristian comes into his life after more then ten years, Andrej’s world spirals out of control. The Lost Son examines the complex reality of the vicious cycle of violence, which asks powerful questions about human relationships.

Neither Voice – Ester Ivakic
Ida is growing up in rural Yugoslavia in the 1970s, listening to obituaries and watering flowers in the nearby graveyard with her grandma. When Grandma falls ill, the only thing that helps her is a mysterious song which can be heard throughout the cemetery. Amazed, Ida decides to join the school choir. But she’s an awful singer and only manages to pass her audition with the help of her schoolmate Terezka. Her joy doesn’t last for long, however, because Ida finds out about her dad’s affair and soon leaves for Serbia with her mum, where she ends up spending the summer. Upon returning home, her singing becomes the least of her worries.