European Film Promotion (EFP) and its member organisations are delighted to announce the 2022 line-up for EFP PRODUCERS ON THE MOVE. Twenty of the most promising, up-and-coming European producers have been selected to take part in EFP’s high-profile hybrid promotion and networking platform before and during the Cannes Film Festival (May 17 - 28, 2022).
These are the 20 producers from 20 different countries who have been selected for the programme from the nominations submitted by the EFP member organisations: Johannes Schubert (Austria), Maarten Schmidt (Belgium), Katya Trichkova (Bulgaria), Janine Teerling (Cyprus), Vladimír Lhoták (Czech Republic), Evelin Penttilä (Estonia), Judith Lou Lévy (France), Ketie Danelia (Georgia), Alexander Wadouh (Germany), Ioanna Bolomyti (Greece), Jessie Fisk (Ireland), Alessandro Amato (Italy), Derk-Jan Warrink (The Netherlands), Marija Dimitrova (North Macedonia), Andrea Berentsen Ottmar (Norway), Kuba Kosma (Poland), Diana Păroiu (Romania), Jakub Viktorín (Slovak Republic), Felipe Lage Coro (Spain) and Stefan Eichenberger (Switzerland).
This exclusive group will take part in a tailor-made hybrid programme in order to foster international co-productions, intensify the exchange of experiences and help create new professional networks. The Pre-Festival online programme, which started yesterday and runs until 5 May, includes 1:1 speed meetings, roundtables and pitching sessions. Producers will then meet personally during the Cannes Film Festival from 19 to 23 May and take part in a five-day on-site programme including case studies, social events and an extensive promotional campaign via the international trade magazines.
Some of the selected producers will be presenting their films at this year’s Cannes Film Festival such as Janine Teerling, Andrea Berentsen Ottmar and Diana Păroiu whose dramas Mediterranean Fever by Maha Haj, Sick Of Myself by Kristoffer Borgli and All the People I’ll Never Be by Davy Chou are screening in Un Certain Regard. Meanwhile, Derk-Jan Warring’s co-production of The Woodcutter Story by Mikko Myllylahti will be presented in the Critics’ Week at Cannes. Other participants of this year’s Producers on the Move programme have already been involved in the production of films by multi-award-winning and renowned directors: Jakub Viktorín co-produced Agnieszka Holland's Spoor and Sergei Loznitsa’s State Funeral, while Katya Trichkova was involved in three films by Stephan Komanderev, and Evelin Penttilä produced Hit Big by J-P Valkeapää.
Some of the producers also focus on debut films: for example, Ioanna Bolomyti produced Sonia Kenterman’s multi-award-winning Tailor and Assiminia Proedrou’s debut Behind The Haystacks, while Alessandro Amato was behind Maura Delpero’s award-winning first feature Maternal. Meanwhile, Felipe Lage Coro is now developing Feyrouz Serhal’s debut feature I Am Here But You Can't See Me.
The line-up also includes producers of award-winning films such as Vladimir Lhoták whose animated film Even Mice Belong in Heaven by Jan Bubeníček and Denisa Grimmová received nominations at the 2021 European Film Awards and 2022 Césars and was also named Best Animation Film at the Shanghai Film Festival in 2021. In addition, Judith Lou Lévy took home the Jury Prize last year for Nadav Lapid’s Cannes competition title Ahed's Knee, while Marija Dimitrova’s co-production of Dina Duma’s drama Sisterhood was awarded the Special Jury Prize at Karlovy Vary’s 2021 edition and Ketie Danelia, one of the producers involved in Levin Akin’s multi-award-winning 2019 film And Then We Danced, saw her co-production of Elene Naveriani’s Wet Sand win Best Actor honours in Locarno last August. Other prize-winners are: Kuba Kosma (Fears, Golden Lion for Best Film, Polish Film Festival 2021), Johannes Schubert (Dear Future Children, Hot Docs Audience Award, Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival 2021), Maarten Schmidt (Breathless, Flemish Film and Television Prize/Ensors 2019; Audience Award, MOOOV Film Festival 2018), Jessie Fisk (Song of Granite, Irish entry for the Best Foreign Language 2018), Stefan Eichenberger (Parvaneh/Short Film Oscar nomination 2015) and Alexander Wadouh (A Coffee in Berlin, 6 German Film Awards 2013).
EFP PRODUCERS ON THE MOVE is made possible thanks to the support of Creative Europe - the MEDIA Programme of the European Union, Eurimages, Festival Scope, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Maan Rental and TheGreenShot, as well as the participating national film promotion institutes from the Producers on the Move’s countries, EFP’s member organisations: AFC - Austrian Films, Bulgarian National Film Center, Cinecittà (Italy), Cultural Services of the Ministry of Education and Culture of Cyprus, Czech Film Center, Estonian Film Institute, Flanders Image, Georgian National Film Center, German Films, Greek Film Centre, Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales / ICAA (Spain), North Macedonia Film Agency, Norwegian Film Institute, Polish Film Institute, Roman ian Film Development, Screen Ireland / Fís Éireann, SEE NL (The Netherlands), Slovak Film Institute, SWISS FILMS and Unifrance. The main media partner is Variety, with Cineuropa as an additional media partner.