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PRODUCERS ON THE MOVE 2018

David Herdies • Producer

“A lot of talented directors and producers are fighting to raise funds”

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- Swedish producer David Herdies, selected for the EFP’s 2018 Producers on the Move, talked to us about his work for Momento Film

David Herdies • Producer

David Herdies founded Momento Film in 2011 as an independent platform for new talents with challenging and brave film projects and has produced several award-winning shorts and documentaries. In 2014, he moved into fiction film production with Simón Mesa Soto's short Madre competing in Cannes in 2016. Herdies, recently the co-producer of Tinatin Kajrishvili's Berlinale Panorama 2018 title Horizon [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tinatin Kajrishvili
film profile
]
, has been selected as one of the European Film Promotion’s 2018 Producers on the Move at the 71st Cannes Film Festival.

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Cineuropa: Which is the film you are most proud of and why?
David Herdies:
It's not easy to select one film that I am most proud of - most films I have produced have something that I am really proud of - but if I have to pinpoint one, I would say Madre by Colombian director Simón Mesa Soto. I saw Simón's prior film Leidi, and really wanted to work with him in a short film project that we were developing as I found him very interesting as a director. I got in contact with him over Facebook, and after a couple of brainstorming sessions we decided to develop a script for the short film Madre. I saw a great potential in the project and felt that it had something special; to be able to tell a story about a very sensitive subject (sexual abuse of children) without being sensationalist or pointing fingers, and keeping the cinematic integrity. Already at an early stage we said we would aim for Cannes, and in the end we were very happy to be selected as one out of ten films selected for the short film competition in 2016.

What are the challenges and merits of producing in Sweden?
Sweden has a quite well functioning funding system with the Swedish Film Institute and the regional funds apart from broadcasters and distributors. The competition is of course tough as there are a lot of talented directors and producers who are fighting to raise funds for their projects - and the funds are limited, which I would say is one of the main challenges. Compared with our neighbouring countries Denmark and Norway, the yearly budget for development and production is about 25% lower here in Sweden. We need to work on raising that budget! I also think that we should implement tax incentives in order to attract more co-productions.

What are your expectations in Cannes as one of the "Producers on the Move"?
It's a great opportunity for me to broaden my network - especially within the field of fiction where I am not as established as in the documentary industry - and to get the chance to market and find partners for some of our upcoming projects. It's of course also a good opportunity to create more visibility for Momento Film and our sister company Momento Studio which specializes in sound post production. As we just launched the sister company, we are right now looking for some really cool projects that we can co-produce.

What are your next projects?
The Rabbit Yard (De kommer att drunkna i sina mödrars tårar): a feature film based on the August Prize awarded novel by Johannes Anyuru, who is also writing the script together with US-based writer Mercies May. Guldbagge-awarded director Goran Kapetanovic (My Aunt in Sarajevo, The War Game) is directing. The Rabbit Yard is a near future science fiction story that deals with hope and hopelessness in today's Europe, about friendship and betrayal, and about the theatre of terror and fascism.

Madame Luna: based on a true story, Madame Luna is a thrilling drama about an Eritrean girl who is washed ashore in Libya, and with time becomes one of the most notorious human smugglers with deep ties to the Sicilian Mafia. The film is based on an idea by Binyam Berhane, written by award winning Palestinian writer Suha Arraf (The Syrian Bride,Lemon Tree [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
). Director to be announced.

Apart from these three fiction projects, we have seven creative documentaries in development, among which can be mentioned Transnistra by Anna Eborn and Hamada by Eloy Dominguez Serén.

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