24/10/2024 - Tunisian filmmaker Nejib Kthiri and Palestinian-Syrian director Abdallah Al-Khatib share Cinemed's main grant; Lotfi Achour and Elene Mikaberidze also win awards

The winners and the juries of the Development Aid Grant of the Cinemed Meetings

At the end of two pitching days, the jury of the 34th edition of the Development Aid Grant given within the framework of the Cinemed Meetings of the 46th Cinemed – Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival has given the Grand Prize ex aequo to two debut fiction feature projects: Tkallem by Tunisian director Nejib Kthiri and Das heim by Palestinian-Syrian filmmaker Abdallah Al-Khatib.

Awarded by a jury composed of producers Marianne Dumoulin (JBA Production) and Dominique Welinski (DW and pilot of La Factory), Catherine Bizern (Céci Moulin d’Andé) and consultant Thomas Pibarot, this €8,000 development aid grant comes courtesy of the CNC. On top of it, €5,000 of post-production services are added (half for subtitling by Titra Film, the other half for sound by Saraband).

The script of Tkallem dives into Tunisia in 2023, where growing social tensions arising from the sub-Saharan refugee crisis are fueling racism and xenophobia, and that of Das heim has as its central protagonist a young woman whose asylum application gets rejected by the court which announces her immediate expulsion, shattering her dreams of a future in Germany. Full information about all the projects in the running for the Development Aid Grant is available here.

The second grant (€4,000 courtesy of the Occitania region, plus €3,500 of visuals post-production services at French Kiss Studio and €2,500 in sound at Cercle Rouge) went to the project The Woman Sitting in the Corridor by Tunisian filmmaker Lotfi Achour (read the interview with producer Sébastien Hussenot).

The writing residency offered by the Moulin d’Andé distinguished The Taste of Peach by Belgian-Georgian filmmaker Elene Mikaberidze. Finally, the jury awarded a special prize (coming with a consultation by Thomas Pibarot) and a special mention that went, respectively, to Rabies by Lebanese filmmaker Sandra Tabet, and to the project Sheherazade’s Birds by Moroccan director Sofia El Khyari.

The Casell’arte prize (a writing residency and a €1,000 grant) given by the Fabbrica culturale awarded Italian filmmaker Marco Amenta for A Cold Distance, and the Music & Cinema prize (an invitation to the European Market of Musical Composition for the Screen at the MCM – Marseille International Music & Cinema Festival) distinguished Shibboleth by Cypriot director Alexandra Matheou.

Meanwhile, the jury of the 10th edition of the “Du court au long” initiative (open to filmmakers taking part in the short film competition in Montpellier and presenting a feature project) gave two writing residencies and two special mentions.

The full list of winners:

Development Aid Grant

Main grant (ex aequo)
Tkallem - Nejib Kthiri (Tunisia/UK)
Production : Afef Ben Mahmoud for Mésanges Films
Co-production : Nejib Kthiri for Seventh Age films

Das heim - Abdallah Al-Khatib (Algeria)
Production : Salah Issaad for Issaad Film Productions

Second grant
The Woman Sitting in the Corridor - Lotfi Achour (France/Tunisia)
Production : Sébastien Hussenot for La Luna Production
Co-production : Lotfi Achour for A.P.A. Artistes Producteurs Associés

Residency at the Moulin d’Andé Centre for Cinematic Writing
The Taste of Peach - Elene Mikaberidze (Georgia)
Production : Keti Danelia for Takes Film
Co-production : Tekia Machavariani for Nushi Film

Special prize
Rabies - Sandra Tabet (France/Lebanon)
Production : Thomas Micoulet for Haut Les Mains Productions
Co-production : Rana Eid for DB Studio

Special mention
Sheherazade’s Birds - Sofia El Khyari (Morocco)
Production : Sofia El Khyari for Oneiris Animation

Casell’arte prize
A Cold Distance - Marco Amenta (Italy)
Production : Simonetta Amenta for Eurofilm

Music & Cinema prize
Shibboleth - Alexandra Matheou (Cyprus/France)
Production : Tonia Mishiali for Bark Like A Cat
Co-production : Soyo Giaoui for La Cellule Productions

"Du court au long" initiative

Méditalents writing residency
On The Sidelines - Amit Vaknin (Israel)

Residency at the Moulin d’Andé Centre for Cinematic Writing
Dans mon pays de tomates - Diala Al Hindaoui (France)

Special mention
Genco dans la maison - Selin Öksüzoğlu (France)
C’est les Balkans, bébé ! - Boris Gavrilović (Serbia)

(Translated from French)