After two editions marked by unpredictable difficulties, but at the same time by new approaches and innovative perspectives, When East Meets West (WEMW) is launching its 13^th edition with the primary aim of consolidating the wide range of existing programmes and activities. Another main goal is to help the international film community as it faces the possible upcoming challenges in the industry.

Taking place from 22-25 January, WEMW is kicking off a new formula dedicated to the spotlight territories: for the very first time, the market will inaugurate a two-year East and West focus on Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Spain, Portugal and Latin America. Thanks to this new focus, the next two editions of WEMW will bring several projects and professionals from these areas to Trieste, but they will also offer a safe space meant to facilitate exchange and collaboration.

With the deadline set for 4 November, producers from Europe, North America and Latin America are eligible to apply for the WEMW Co-Production Forum with fiction-feature or documentary film projects in development, and 20 of these will be selected (more information on the selection criteria can be found here). All projects will be presented to more than 600 industry professionals and will compete for a series of prizes: the Film Center Serbia Development Award (a €5,000 cash prize), a scholarship for the EAVE Producers Workshop, the Flow PostProduction Award (€15,000 in post-production facilities), the EWA Network's I Have a Dream Award for Equality and Inclusion (a €1,000 cash prize), and two Producers Network badges. Moreover, thanks to a brand-new partnership with the French regional fund Ciclic Centre-Val de Loire, the list of confirmed prizes has lengthened, and for this special 2023 edition, all selected teams will also be competing for the Ciclic WEMW Award (a €5,000 cash prize). Through this interregional collaboration, WEMW and Ciclic Centre-Val de Loire aim to support the diversity of independent production, by fostering international co-production.

Furthermore, until 20 November, there will also be the possibility to submit a project to the two work-in-progress sessions of WEMW. Last Stop Trieste will select documentaries at the fine-cut stage that have been presented at one of the WEMW partner events in previous years. This Is IT will address feature-length fiction films and hybrid works with a strong visual and artistic approach produced or co-produced by Italian producers, or coming from any of the East and West 2023 spotlight territories.

Finally, until 5 December, producers from the WEMW 2023 spotlight countries will be able to apply for First Cut Lab Trieste, the consultancy programme designed for first and second feature films in the editing phase. The selected teams (director/producer/editor) are offered a creative framework, which is both challenging and protective, where they can adopt new perspectives and explore the whole artistic potential of their films. More information can be found here.

In the second part of October, WEMW will launch all other calls for the Inspirational Labs and the EAVE Slate, a series of initiatives meant to encourage producers to develop different content, explore new business models and reinforce their company’s sustainability.

WEMW is once again organised by the FVG Audiovisual Fund in collaboration with the Trieste Film Festival, EAVE and the Creative Europe Desk Italy, and thanks to the support of the Creative Europe - MEDIA programme, MIC - Direzione Generale per il Cinema, CEI – Central European Initiative, Film Center Serbia and the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia.