"We attracted 700 professionals. It’s another new record, and if we take into account the 370 badgeholders from the Sommet event (for cinema operators and distributors), it’s the first time we’ve exceeded 1,000 participants." Lison Hervé and Jérémy Zelnik - who head up the Industry Village, the professional sidebar (which unspooled 14 – 17 December) of the 16th Les Arcs Film Festival – are making no attempt to hide their happiness.

"We thought hard about crowd management to ensure our networking opportunities were on a human scale. With this in mind, we downsized the number of events, sometimes separating film people from music people to an even greater extent than usual; we doubled up on evening and day events, etc. It was a little trickier in terms of organisation, but it stopped us from feeling overwhelmed by the volume of people. There was also far more interest in the projects selected in the Co-Production Village than there were available meeting times, so we’re really happy with the interest they generated. And with regard to the Work In Progress section, we reported record numbers of meeting requests: our strategy of presenting diverse films for different potential partners was a great success, going by the feedback we were given by professionals on the selection."

Work in Progress

The below ranking is based on the number of requests received for meetings to take place the day after the Work in Progress event (before the winners were unveiled at the end of the day – read our news):

Solomamma - Janicke Askevold
Production: Bacon Pictures Oslo (Norway), Bacon Pictures Copenhagen (Denmark), Mistrus Media (Latvia), Dansu Films (Lithuania), It's Alive (Finland)
A film by the Norwegian director whose first work, Together Alone, was released in cinemas in her home country in 2021, leads this particular pack. Scripted by Jørgen Faerøy Flanes and Mads Stegger, the film revolves around 40-year-old Nora who becomes a single mother thanks to a sperm donor, but who struggles with solo parenting. When she finds out the identity of her donor, she reaches out to him, setting off a chain reaction of unexpected consequences...

Strange River - Jaume Claret Muxart
Production: Xavi Font (ZuZú Cinema) (Spain), Miramemira (Spain), Schuldenberg Films GmbH (Germany)
In second place is the Catalan filmmaker’s first film, written with Meritxell Colell Aparicio (who was selected for the Berlinale Forum via her first film Facing the Wind [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film]). The story follows 15-year-old Dídac who’s cycling along the Danube with his family. But when he meets a mysterious 18-year-old boy, something inside of him begins to change...

Reedland - Sven Bresser
Production: Viking Film (the Netherlands), A Private View (Belgium)
One of the movies sharing the third step on the podium is this Dutch director’s first feature film, which focuses on reed cutter Johan who finds the lifeless body of a raped and murdered girl on his reed plot. He’s overcome by an ambiguous sense of guilt and sets out on a quest to root out evil.

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)
Likewise on the third step of the podium is the Slovakian director’s 5th feature film after the docu-fiction Velvet Terrorists [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] (screened in Karlovy Vary’s East of the West line-up in 2013 and in the Berlinale Forum in 2014), Koza [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Ivan Ostrochovský
scheda film] (showcased in the Berlinale Forum in 2015), Servants [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Ivan Ostrochovský
scheda film] (unveiled in the 2020 Berlinale’s Encounters competition) and the documentary Photophobia [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Ivan Ostrochovský, Pavol P…
scheda film] (awarded the Europa Cinemas Label in the 2023 Venice Film Festival’s Giornate degli Autori line-up). The movie takes us back to 1980s Czechoslovakia, where white gynaecologist Ingrid and half-Roma birth nurse Agáta form an unlikely bond, as Ingrid discovers that even the best intentions can have devastating consequences.

Perla [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Alexandra Makarová
scheda film] - Alexandra Makarová
Production: Golden Girls Film (Austria), Hailstone (Slovakia)
The third film on the third step of the podium is the second title by the Austrian director discovered in 2018 via Crush My Heart [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film]. The film is set to enjoy its world premiere in the upcoming IFFR’s Tiger competition (read our news). The story takes us to Vienna in the 1980s where a dissident artist’s life is turned upside down when her estranged partner reappears after being released from prison, prompting a perilous journey back to Czechoslovakia which threatens her newfound family.

Co-Production Village

The below ranking is based on the number of requests received for the 18 projects taking part in the Co-Production Village (read our news on the winning works):

Burning Skin - Behrooz Karamizade (Germany)
Production: Weydemann Bros. (Germany), Living Pictures Production GbR (Germany)
The German-Iranian director’s movie dominated the rankings. This second fiction feature film project by the filmmaker who turned heads with Empty Nets [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Behrooz Karamizade
scheda film] (awarded the Special Jury Prize in Karlovy Vary 2023) revolves around 22-year-old Maryam who lives with her family on the Iranian-Kurdish border. When her father, who owns a petrol station, suddenly disappears, she disguises herself as a man and embarks on a dangerous journey through the smuggling world to find him.

Toad - Claire Flower
Production: Elation Pictures (UK)
Arriving in second place is this British first feature film project whose story follows a woman living far from home and estranged from her strikingly successful twin brother, who begins to piece together memories of the teen theatre experience which came between them.

Discipline - Camille Degeye
Production: Petit Chaos (France)
Last but not least, on the third step of the podium is the French director’s first feature film project. The story centres on a thirty-something actress who’s trying to survive in Paris between auditions, odd jobs and drunken, techno-themed nights out. Until she receives a phone call: her father is dying…

Talent Village

The most popular among the eight projects gracing the Talent Village (which is attracting more and more attention from sector professionals – read our news on the award winners) is as follows:

Signal Path - Eglé Razumaité (Lithuania)
Production: Studio Uljana Kim
This Lithuanian project garnered the highest number of meeting requests, following its director’s selection in competition in Cannes this year (with her short Ootid) and in Cinef (The Cannes Film Festival Residency – news).