As part of the Warsaw Industry Days (WID) at the 34^th Warsaw International Film Festival, this year’s edition of Works in Progress showcased six new films from Eastern Europe. Giving an audience of film professionals, including distributors, festival programmers and sales agents, an exclusive preview of upcoming features – three of which come from Poland, and one film each from Ukraine, Russia and Estonia – the pitching session was held in the Warsaw Cinematheque at the Palace of Culture and Science on 19 October. 

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Mostly in search of international sales, distribution, completion funding or festival programming for their world premieres, the films had a good chance of finding a match after their presentations, opined Małgorzata Dochniak, head of the WID, noting, “It’s been working out in the past few years.”

Supported by the Polish Film Institute, the main partner of the WID, this year’s film selection encompassed a variety of subjects, from a story set on a Ukrainian Navy ship to another set in a park in Japan, the narrative strands of which are interwoven with Japanese traditional Haiku poetry. In Dochniak’s view, this is the “main strength of this year’s programme, as everyone can find something for themselves”.

The first presentation was that of the Ukrainian-Polish movie about the crew of a Ukrainian Navy ship during the Russian invasion of Crimea. In UR11 Cherkasy [+lee también:
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entrevista: Tymur Yashchenko
ficha de la película] by director Timur Yashchenko, the crew is trying to return to port as the crisis begins. They discover that the port has been lost to the invasion but refuse to surrender, as it would go against the navy’s code of honour. UR11 Cherkasy is planned for a 2019 release and is being produced by MKK film service and Intermedia. 

The second film presented was the Polish-Dutch dystopian film noir I Am Lying Now [+lee también:
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ficha de la película], directed by Pawel Borowski (Zero) and produced by Opus Film (Ida [+lee también:
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entrevista: Pawel Pawlikowski
entrevista: Pawel Pawlikowski
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entrevista: Malgorzata Szumowska
entrevista: Malgorzata Szumowska
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entrevista: Anka and Wilhelm Sasnal
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entrevista: Claire Denis
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The Polish big-budget historical battle drama The Legions [+lee también:
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ficha de la película], directed by Dariusz Gajewski (Strange Heaven [+lee también:
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With a budget of only 3 million PLN (approximately €700,000), Polish first-time director Monika Jordan-Młodzianowska and production company Autograf have finished shooting The Iron Bridge [+lee también:
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entrevista: Monika Jordan-Mlodzianowska
ficha de la película], inspired by the real-life rescue of miners trapped underground. Julia Kijowska (Nina [+lee también:
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ficha de la película], Via Carpatia [+lee también:
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entrevista: Klara Kochańska
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ficha de la película]) and Łukasz Simlat (Fugue [+lee también:
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entrevista: Agnieszka Smoczyńska
ficha de la película], Amok [+lee también:
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ficha de la película], United States of Love [+lee también:
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entrevista: Tomasz Wasilewski
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An untitled Aleksandr Rastorguyev project (budgeted at €150,000) is being made by several directors in Russia. The Russian documentary filmmaker, who also produced My Friend Boris Nemtsov [+lee también:
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ficha de la película], was killed in South Africa while uncovering a story about a Russian military company. The film, still in the early stages of production (staged by Tvindie Film Production), will be accompanied by a webdoc and is open to finding co-producers. 

The film with the working title Yoyogi Haiku, directed by first-time Estonian director Max Golomidov, explores the Japanese tradition of contemplation in Yoyogi Park in Tokyo. Still in development, the project, which is receiving a development award from the Estonian Film Institute, is being produced by Volia Chajkouskaya, of Volia Films, and Ivo Felt (Scary Mother [+lee también:
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entrevista: Ana Urushadze
ficha de la película], Tangerines [+lee también:
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ficha de la película]), of Allfilm. It is looking for sales agents, distributors, pre-sales and festivals. 

For the second year in a row, the Warsaw Industry Days project CentEast was not funded by Creative Europe. Last year, the organisers therefore focused exclusively on Polish films, and this year, the platform expanded to include other countries. “We are always very happy when the projects return to the festival as feature films [in the official programme],” said Małgorzata Dochniak.