"We welcomed more than 600 professionals to the Industry Village (which unspooled from 10-13 December). It’s a record for us because before the pandemic, our numbers fluctuated between 500 and 550." Jérémy Zelnik and Lison Hervé, the helmers of the Industry Village, which is the professional sidebar of the 14th Les Arcs Film Festival, are making no secret of their satisfaction. "All of the meetings on offer attracted plenty of people, especially those linked to the Talent Village, which broke its own record, because professionals seem to be looking for young filmmakers in order to forge long-term relationships with them upstream." The incorporation of new institutional partners within Les Arcs is also worth a mention, notably the Netherlands Film Fund, the Estonian Film Institute and the British Film Institute who joined the Swedish Film Institute, the Norwegian Film Institute, Swiss Films, the CNC, German Films and the Austrian Film Institute.

In terms of the meetings organised the day after the Work In Progress event (before the prize-winners were unveiled – see the news), Veni Vidi Vici [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Daniel Hoesl, Julia Niemann
scheda film] by Austria’s Daniel Hoesl (which went on to win the Alphapanda Audience Engagement Award) came out on top, followed by Rossosperanza [+leggi anche:
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trailer
scheda film] by Italy’s Annarita Zambrano (which scooped the WiP section’s main prize). The third step on the podium went to both Hunters on a White Field by Sweden’s Sarah Gyllenstierna (who also appeared on the WiP winners list) and Riviera [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Orfeas Peretzis. Produced by StudioBauhaus alongside French firm KG Productions, this first feature film by the Greek director revolves around Alkistis, who lives in her family home renting out bedrooms with her mother, Anna, to their sole remaining clients: Petros, a failed writer, and an elderly couple known as the Chatzivassilious. She’s devoted to two cults: worshipping her father who died in a water-skiing accident and communicating with a palm tree in the garden. But Anna decides to sell the house despite Alkistis’ vehement opposition, and the latter finds herself forced to find a way forwards in life…

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On the subject of the 18 Co-Production Village projects (read our awards news), Les Filles Désir by France’s Prïncia Car dominated the meeting rankings. Steered by After Hours Production, this first feature film project revolves around Omar’s crew who are respected in the local area and who divide girls into two categories: whores to fuck and girls to marry. The return of their childhood friend and former sex worker Carmen upsets their balance, as well as their relationship with sex, love and power…

The second most popular project was Welwitschia by Faraz Shariat (produced by Germany’s Jünglinge Film) whose story unfolds on a German farm in modern-day Namibia: after the mysterious death of the patriarch, the horrors of the region’s colonial past come to the fore within the family…

Last but not least are the three projects which came next in the rankings: The Visitor by Lithuania’s Vytautas Katkus, The Golden Radiance of a Beetle by Brit director Henry Blake and Fed Up by Spain’s Júlia De Paz Solvas.