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KARLOVY VARY 2020 KVIFF Eastern Promises / Awards

KVIFF’s Eastern Promises Industry Days hands out its awards

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- Wild Roots has received the Works in Progress TRT Award, while creative documentary Atlantide snagged the Eurimages Lab Project Award

KVIFF’s Eastern Promises Industry Days hands out its awards
Wild Roots by Hajni Kis, which won the Works in Progress TRT Award

Taking place entirely online this year, with 41 projects at different stages of production participating in five platforms, the Eastern Promises Industry Days of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF), which ran from 6-8 July, has announced its winners.

A total of 16 projects, eight participating in the Works in Progress section and the remaining eight coming from the First Cut+ session, were presented and were eligible for the newly introduced Works in Progress TRT Award. The jury, which included Films Boutique COO Gabor Greiner, festival director of International Film Festival Rotterdam Vanja Kaludjerčić and head of co-productions at the Turkish Radio and TV Corporation (TRT) Faruk Güven, selected the Hungarian-Slovak co-production Wild Roots [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by first-time director Hajni Kis as the recipient of the prize, valued at €10,000. Co-written by Fanni Szántó and Kis, and produced by Balázs Zachar and Júlia Berkes for Proton Cinema, the project, which was part of the First Cut+ portfolio, was singled out as “a visually compelling debut feature, which displays a distinct directing style and promising talent. Showing a skilful ability to engage both professional and non-professional actors, the director delivers a profoundly moving and intriguing story.”

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The winner of the other prize in this section, the Works in Progress Post-production Development Award, which offers services by UPP and Soundsquare, was picked by the partners’ jury, comprising Ivo Marák, head of the Film & TV Services Department at UPP; Michaela Patríková, sound designer at Soundsquare; and Karel Och, artistic director of the Karlovy Vary IFF. They unanimously chose the film The Alleys, written and directed by Bassel Ghandour and produced by Rula Nasser. The jury opined that the film has “an exciting promise of a captivating tale in which the writer-director uses genre-film elements to deliver an intriguing look at a society driven by violence.”

The Eurimages Lab Project Award, worth €50,000, was bestowed upon the Italian-French creative documentary Atlantide, written and directed by Yuri Ancarani, and produced by Marco Alessi for Rome-based company Dugong Films. The documentary follows a group of teenagers living in Venice who organise illegal motorboat races to win girls’ hearts. The jury, comprising German Eurimages representative Els Hendrix, Romanian writer-director Adina Pintilie and head of Berlinale programming Mark Peranson, mentioned that the project offers “an unsettling yet fascinating vision of a dying world. Using the metaphor of Atlantis, the director's singular gaze brilliantly synchronises the perspective of teenagers with the sad perspective of a vanishing city. Nevertheless, like contemporary Noah's Arks, the motorboats race across the Venetian lagoon, driven by the energy of youth, in a life-affirming view of a possible future.”

Finally, the Docs in Progress jury – comprising Salma Abdalla, managing director of Autlook Filmsales; Rada Šešić, festival programmer and filmmaker; and Charlotte Cook, co-founder and executive producer of Field of Vision – decided to give the section's award (a €5,000 cash prize) to the project Lines [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Barbora Sliepková
film profile
]
. The Slovakian production, directed by debutante Barbora Sliepková and produced by Barbara Janišová Feglová for independent production company HITCHHIKER Cinema, was selected from among eight projects. The jury stated, “With a symphonic approach to location, character and aesthetic, and with highly skilful and cinematic and artistic choices, the jury were struck by this strong debut that demonstrates an amazing new filmmaking talent.”

Here is the list of KVIFF Eastern Promises Industry Days award winners:

Works in Progress TRT Award
Wild Roots [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
– Hajni Kis (Hungary/Slovakia)

Works in Progress Post-production Development Award
The Alleys – Bassel Ghandour (Jordan/Qatar/France/Saudi Arabia)

Eurimages Lab Project Award
Atlantide – Yuri Ancarani (Italy/France)

Docs in Progress Award
Lines [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Barbora Sliepková
film profile
]
– Barbora Sliepková (Slovakia)

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