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BRIFF 2021 - Brussels Co-Production Forum

Country Focus: Belgium

The Brussels International Film Festival organises the 5th Brussels Co-Production Forum

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- The market will take place on 7 and 8 September in order to support the creativity and productivity of young European producers

The Brussels International Film Festival organises the 5th Brussels Co-Production Forum
Director Alex Camilleri, whose latest project Zetjune was selected

Created in 2016, the Brussels Co-Production Forum of the Brussels International Film Festival, whose new edition will take place on 7 and 8 September, is an initiative aiming to support promising feature projects in development and to connect them to potential partners.

Since its inception, the Forum has evolved into two distinct sections: the Gap Financing Sessions, which aim to promote exchanges between European producers looking for minority Belgian coproducers, and the Up: Up-and-Coming Producers section, which specifically targets producers at the beginning of their careers. The latter will put 9 young European production companies in the spotlight.

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On the Belgian side, Playtime Films will present The Virgin and the Child [+see also:
film review
film profile
]
, the first feature from Binevsa Berivan, young Kurdish director based in Brussels and recognised for her short films Petit Château and Phone Story. In production, we find Isabel de la Serna, who recently distinguished herself with the production of the successful Belgian series Ennemi Public.

In Flemish, David Vermander (producer for Cartouche, a company working between film and television), will introduce Clean, the first feature from Koen Van Sande, who made a mark notably with his shorts Research and Lockdown, and whose series The Kidnapping of Phil Fresco, which he wrote and directed, we will soon see.

Maltese projects are rather rare. Rebecca Anastasi will present Zejtune, the second feature from Alex Camilleri, auteur of a first feature selected in Sundance titled Luzzu [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alex Camilleri
film profile
]
(whose lead actor Jesmark Scicluna received the Special Jury Prize and which was sold in several territories) which in fact gave its name to the company represented by Rebecca Anastasi, Luzzu Ltd.

From Spain arrives Bayo Bayo Baby, the latest fiction project from Raúl de la Fuente (co-director of animated film Another Day of Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Raul de la Fuente
film profile
]
, winner of the 2018 European Film Award in its category). Jana Llopart, creator of Corte A Films, a company launched last January, will present Three Songs by Adrià Guxens, a choral film on the Barcelona youth. Another Spanish duo will be represented, with director Gemma Blasco, who will introduce her second feature, The Fury, and its producer Mireia Graell, for Ringo Media, who won the Grand Jury Prize in Sundance 2018 for the short film Matria by Alvaro Gago.

Make Way Films, a company based in Rotterdam and represented by Monique Van Kessel, specialises in genre films, horror, science-fiction or fantasy. Shiny New World by Jan Van Gorkum, which they are presenting in the Forum, is no exception, depicting a bloody conflict between humans and demons.

Polish producer Agnieszka Rostropoicz-Rutkowska, from Pinot Films, will defend In Between, the new film from Polish filmmaker Piotr Lewandowski.

Known for her hybrid work between cinema and contemporary art, Italian director Irene Dionisio will present the feature Arturo’s Voice, together with her producer Costanza Coldagelli (Matrioska Production).

Finally, French producer Nidia Santiago, winner of the 2019 Procirep Short Film Producer award, will present the project The Autonauts of the Cosmoroute, written and directed by Leslie Menahem and Olivier Gondry.

Interestingly, the Music & Cinema Award, handed out by the Aubagne International Film Festival, which is one of the BRIFF's partners, will be given to one of the projects presented at the Forum, allowing it to form part of the selection of the Aubagne-based gathering's European Market for Film Music Composition in March 2022.

The selected projects:

Gap Financing Session

Bayo Bayo Baby - Raul de la Fuente (Spain)
Production: Amaia Remirez (Kanaki Films)

Les Oiseaux ne se retournent pas (Birds Don’t Look Back) - Nadia Nakhlé (France)
Production: Sébastien Onomo (Special Touch Studios)

Dirty Land (Terra vil) - Luis Campos (Portugal)
Production: Mario Petrocinio (Bro Cinema)

Dreaming of Lions (Sonhar com leões) - Paolo Marinou-Blanco (Portugal)
Production: Tathiani Sacilotto (Persona Non Grata Pictures)

An Enemy (Wróg) - Teresa Czepiec (Poland)
Production: Mikolaj Prokromski (Pokromski Studio)

Fires (Pozari) - Nikola Ljuca (Montenegro)
Production: Bojana Radulovic (Code Blue Production d.o.o.)

The Glass House (Dim za sklom) - Taras Dron (Ukraine)
Production: Valeria Sochyvets (Directory Films)

Our Father (Oce Nas) - Goran Stankovic (Serbia)
Production: Snežana van Houwelingen (This and That Productions)

Souls on Tape - Carl Javér (Sweden)
Production: Fredrik Lange (Vilda Bomben Film AB)

Up: Up-and-coming Producers

La Voce di Arturo (Arturo’s Voice) - Irène Dionisio (Italy)
Production: Costanza Coldagelli (Matrioska Production)

Les Autonautes de la Cosmoroute (Autonauts of the Cosmoroute) - Leslie Menahem et Olivier Gondry (France)
Production: Nidia Santiago et Edwina Liard (Ikki Films)

Clean - Koen Van Sande (Belgium)
Production: David Vermander (Cartouche bvba)

La Furia (The Fury) - Gemma Blasco (Spain)
Production: Mireia Graell (Ringo Media)

Ground Zero - Zhanna Ozirna (Ukraine)
Production: Iryna Kovalchuk (Radar Films)

In Between (Pomiedzy) - Piotr J. Lewandowski (Poland)
Production: Marta Duzbabel, Agnieszka Rostropowicz-Rutkowska (Pinot Films)

Shiny New World - Jan van Gorkum (Netherlands)
Production: Monique van Kessel (Make Way Film)

Tres canciones (Three Songs) - Adrià Guxens (Spain)
Production: Jana Llopart (Corte A Films)

The Virgin and the Child [+see also:
film review
film profile
]
 - Binevsa Berivan (Belgium)
Production: Isabel de la Serna (Playtime Films)

Zejtune (Untitled Ghana Project) - Alex Camilleri (Malta)
Production: Rebecca Anastasi (Luzzu Ltd)

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(Translated from French)

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