The Industry@Tallinn International Works in Progress pitching session of this year's Black Nights Film Festival showcased eight new film projects this year, coming from places as diverse as Turkey, Argentina and Kyrgyzstan amongst others and showcasing mainly young female characters in the lead.

Turkey introduced a characteristically tense character drama in Brother's Keeper [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Ferit Karahan
scheda film], the new film by Ferit Karahan (The Death of Black Horses, The Fall from Heaven), centred on a desolate boarding school where repressive educational measures come to the surface when a student falls ill but cannot get the help they need, unable to bypass school bureaucracy and unfavourable weather.

Meanwhile, Latin America had a strong showing, with three projects focusing on characters from the region. Although Hungry Saints, the first feature by Swiss-British director Marc Wilkins (winner of the 2017 Swiss Film Prize for Best Short Film for his latest short Bon Voyage), is a Swiss-American co-production, the film’s protagonists are a Peruvian family of a mother and her two sons, living in New York, with the pair of boys trying to reach adulthood and find a purpose. Two Argentinian projects — Clarisa Navas’ One in a Thousand [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] and Lucas Turturro’s French Braid — both centre on a pair of teenage girls, going through a turmoil of feelings, love, rivalry and betrayal.

The strong female presence continued with Precious Ivie [+leggi anche:
recensione
intervista: Sarah Blaßkiewitz
scheda film], directed by Germany’s Sarah Blasskiewitz (known for her 2016 medium-length film Blank), a film about racial tension and identity in Germany (again, two sisters); Hilda, a first feature directed by UK’s Rishi Pelham, with a title character trying to juggle parental responsibilities and the unwillingness to let go of the party life, while threatened by looming poverty; and Far Frontiers, directed by Russia’s Maxim Dashkin, in which a middle-aged woman, Maria, is caught between her son and her lovers.

The line-up was rounded up by Slovak project Stand Up, by emerging director Juraj Bohuš, a dramedy about a stand up comedian’s relationship with his newly-found prodigal daughter from the USA who crashes into his life and makes him question his own egotistical set of values (read more about it here).

Some of these projects were among the winning titles of the edition (read news).

Here is the full list of International Works in Progress projects:

Brother's Keeper [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Ferit Karahan
scheda film]- Ferit Karahan
Production company: Asteros Film (Turkey), Flama Booking (Romania)

Hungry Saints - Marc Wilkins
Production company: Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion (Switzerland)

One in a Thousand [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] - Clarisa Navas
Production company: Varsovia Films (Argentina), Autentika Films (Germany)

French Braid - Lucas Turturro
Production company: Aleph Cine (Argentina)

Precious Ivie [+leggi anche:
recensione
intervista: Sarah Blaßkiewitz
scheda film] - Sarah Blasskiewitz
Production company: Weydemann Bros. GmbH (Germany)

Hilda - Rishi Pelham
Production company: Odds On Productions (United Kingdom)

Far Frontiers - Maxim Dashkin
Production company: Victoria Films (Russia) and Salt Studio (Kyrgyzstan)

Stand Up - Juraj Bohuš
Production company: Silverart (Slovakia)