The third edition of the Montenegro Film Rendezvous took place as an integral part of the Herceg Novi Film Festival (22-28 August). This year’s edition was completely overhauled and ended up being significantly longer and larger in terms of the number of events than the previous two, signalling the organisers’ determination to maintain it as the biggest gathering of its kind in the country, as well as to put it firmly on the regional map.

(L'articolo continua qui sotto - Inf. pubblicitaria)

The first part of the industry event was dedicated to domestic filmmakers, who had the opportunity to pitch their projects, screen rough cuts of their upcoming documentaries, and listen to presentations, panels, master classes and case studies from their more experienced domestic and foreign colleagues. This year’s pitch was dominated by works in progress, six of which were domestic efforts (see the list below). They were divided into two strands, with one more guest pitch session where three more projects realised in co-production between various African countries and France were presented. In private screenings, Nikola Vukčević showcased his upcoming Montenegro Star: The Sample of Janko Nilović and Mladen Ivanović his forthcoming feature debut, The Rear Admiral, while Đorđe Vojvodić presented his work About a Brother. The filmmakers with projects in development had the opportunity to schedule one-on-one meetings.

Filmmakers and journalists also had the chance to listen to master classes led by award-winning cinematographer Manuel Claro, sound editor Nina Hartstone and two-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker Asghar Farhadi. Biljana Tutorov and Petar Glomazić talked about their award-winning documentary To Hold a Mountain and its journey from Montenegro to other parts of the world (see the interview with Glomazić). Tamara Tatishvili, of the Hubert Bals Fund, presented the fund’s activities, while two co-production panels also took place. Dita Reituma from the National Film Centre of Latvia, Edith Sepp from the Estonian Film Institute and Lithuanian producer Kęstutis Drazdauskas talked about producing with the Baltic region, with moderation courtesy of Sevara Irgacheva, of EFAD, while the talk “Producing Across Europe”, moderated by Julie-Jeanne Régnault, of the European Producers Club, featured Georgios Linardakis, Andrea Stucovitz, Katarzyna Ozga, Kęstutis Drazdauskas and Silvia Rexha as the speakers.

The middle section of the festival’s industry part was centred on the RE-ACT and EAVE on-demand workshop for producers from Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia and the Friuli-Venezia-Giulia region of Italy, which was closed to the public. The last section of the festival hosted two more workshops, one named Reacting+, part of the Re-Acting as a Star initiative, aimed at actors from the region of the former Yugoslavia, and the Female Filmmakers Workshop, which ended with a presentation of a number of projects, which was also closed to the public.

However, activities like the presentation of the book A Sovereign Gaze (see the news) and the presentation of Creative Europe – MEDIA activities were indeed open to the public. The latter included a panel discussion about series, with regional creators and decision makers as speakers, as well as the master class “Creating TV Series in Europe. Where Is the Showrunner?”, in which Serbian producer Tatjana Žeželj Gojković and her Greek colleague Lina Yannapoulou, of Blonde Audiovisual Productions, discussed the need for a showrunner role adapted to the specific conditions of European cinema and TV production. Mirjana Tomić also presented the case study “From Application to Evaluation”, while the Creative Europe – MEDIA Desks of Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria and Greece also presented their activities.

Here is the list of projects presented publicly at the Montenegro Film Rendezvous:

Work in Progress

Happiness Is Just a Blue Couch Away – Andrija Mugoša (Montenegro)
Producers: Iva Kasalica, Andrija Mugoša
Co-producer: Boris Raonić
Production company: KA Productions
Co-production company: Radio and Television of Montenegro

Balkan Maestro – Altinaï Petrovich Njegosh, François Fleury (France/Montenegro)
Producers: Altinaï Petrovich Njegosh, Luciana Soares de Souza
Co-producers: Frédéric Chaudier, Dominique Welinski
Production company: Aj Aj Aj Films
Co-production companies: ARTE France, Bienvenue Production

Embryo – Maša Šarović (Montenegro/Serbia)
Producers: Marija Perović, Vuk Perović
Co-producers: Jelena Mitrović, Igor Kecman
Production company: Kino
Co-production company: Backroom Production

Comedown – Pavle Simonović (Montenegro/Slovenia/Croatia)
Producer: Miljan Vučelić
Co-producers: Mirko Radonjić, Rea Rajčić, Tina Tišljar, Aleš Pavlin
Production company: Protos Film
Co-production companies: Eclectica, Portobisso, Radio and Television of Montenegro

Fires – Nina Tratnik (Montenegro/Serbia/Albania)
Producer: Bojana Radulović
Co-producers: Sabina Kodra, Nevena Savić, Ivica Vidanović, Thierry Detaille, Boris Raonić
Production company: Code Blue Production
Co-production companies: Era Film, Cinnamon-CineRent, Radio and Television of Montenegro

Echo – Ivica Vidanović (Montenegro/Serbia/Turkey)
Producer: Marko Jaćimović
Co-producers: Nevena Savić, Enes Erbay
Production company: Giggling Goat Production
Co-production companies: Cinnamon, Tefferraut Film, TRT

Guest Pitch – New African Voices

Speak – Nejib Kthiri (Tunisia/France/Italy)
Producer: Afer Ben Mahmoud
Co-producers: Chantal Fischer, Leonardo Barille
Production companies: Mesanges Films, Les Autres Films, Samarcanda Film

My Tormenting Enemy – Cyrielle Raingou (Cameroon/France)
Producer: Cyrielle Raingou
Co-producer: Eugénie Michel-Villette
Production companies: Je capture ma réalité, Les Films du Bilboquet

Fighters – Alassane Sy (Senegal/France)
Producers: Jules Dieng, Julie-Mathieu Moreau
Co-producer: Souleymane Dia
Production companies: Colors Films, Thiely Films