12/01/2021 - The Italian co-production forum, which this year is focusing on Italy and Israel, has unveiled its picks for its sidebars plus their juries

The 11^th edition of When East Meets West (WEMW) is ready to invite its 500 guests to the digital world from 25-28 January, for an “Out of the Box” edition. The Italian co-production forum, which is an integral part of the 32^nd Trieste Film Festival, is focusing on Italy and Israel this year, and has just announced the selection for its side sections and the international juries.

The 21 selected projects that will be participating in the WEMW Co-production Pitching Forum were announced back in December (see the news), and now the members of the international jury have also been confirmed. Beatrice Fiorentino (Venice International Film Critics’ Week), Anna Ciennik (Les Arcs European Film Festival) and Una Domazetoski (Film Center Serbia) will be deciding on the winners of this section, including the project deemed worthy of the WEMW Film Center Serbia Award.

Regarding the other WEMW side sections, which focus on projects in the post-production phase, the seventh edition of Last Stop Trieste (LST), the documentary work-in-progress platform run together with the Trieste Film Festival, will showcase five creative docs to more than 50 international film professionals. The LST jury, comprising Hanka Kastelikova (HBO Europe), Manuela Buono (Slingshot Films) and Fabio Mancini (RAI 3), will hand out the HBO Europe Award, the Flow Digital Cinema Award and the First Hand Fund Award.

Organised for the fourth time, This is IT, run in partnership with the Milano Film Network, presents six feature-length fiction and hybrid projects that are being produced or co-produced by Italian outfits, and which are currently in the post-production phase and are thus ready for their festival premieres or international distribution. The jury, made up of Daniela Cölle (Pluto Film), Anne Delseth (the Cannes Directors' Fortnight) and Alberto Fasulo (director of Menocchio the Heretic [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), will unveil the winner of the Laser Film Award.

Finally, in partnership with the MIDPOINT Institute, the second edition of the Cold Open programme is set to unspool. The TV series lab is intended for nine independent producers who come from a feature-film background but who are shifting to high-quality television content.

Here is the list of the titles selected in the various WEMW sidebars:

Last Stop Trieste

Brotherhood [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Francesco Montagner
film profile] - Francesco Montagner (Czech Republic/Italy)
Producers: Pavla Janoušková Kubecková, Nadia Trevisan

Factory to the Workers [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Srdjan Kovačević
film profile] - Srđan Kovačević (Croatia)
Producers: Sabina Krešić, Luka Venturin

Museum of the Revolution - Srđan Keča (Croatia)
Producer: Vanja Jambrović

My Mother the State - Ieva Ozolina (Latvia/Iceland)
Producers: Madara Melberga, Larus Jonsson

Reconciliation [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Marija Zidar (Slovenia)
Producer: Danijel Hočevar

This is IT

The Crown Shyness [+see also:
trailer
interview: Valentina Bertani
film profile] - Valentina Bertani (Italy)
Producer: Pietro Puccioni

Darkling [+see also:
film review
interview: Dušan Milić
film profile] - Dušan Milić (Serbia/Italy)
Producers: Snezana van Houwelingen, Debora Chiara Desio

No Dogs or Italians Allowed [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alain Ughetto
film profile] - Alain Ughetto (Italy/France)
Producers: Enrica Capra, Alexandre Cornu

Eternity Package - Magdelena Ilieva (Italy/Bulgaria)
Producers: Ilaria Malagutti, Martichka Bozhilova

Modern Ritual - Lorenzo Pallotta (Italy)
Producers: Andrea Gatopoulos, Stefano Chiavarini, Andrea Rosasco

The Tale of King Crab - Alessio De Righi (Italy)
Producer: Tommaso Bertani

Cold Open

Ada Solomon - microFILM (Romania)
Andraž Jerič - Temporama (Slovenia)
Anna M Bofarull - KaBoGa art & films (Spain)
Claudia Sümeghy - Juno11 Pictures (Hungary)
Irina Malcea-Candea - Luna Film (Romania)
Juraj Krasnohorsky - Artichoke (Slovakia)
Patrice Nezan - Les Contes Modernes (France)
Radovan Síbrt - Pink (Czech Republic)
Sarah Pennacchi - Tico Film Company (Italy)