Cannes Docs

Runtime: 90'

Expected release: November, 2024

Production stage: Late production, Post-production

Budget: €814 000 (70% in place)

1st feature: No

Looking for: Sales Agents, Distributors, Gap Financing, Festivals

Synopsis:

Leaving their civilian lives behind, two female paramedics Cuba and Alaska go to war. They encounter friendship, love, and acceptance there, but also pain, sorrow, and death. As the prospect of returning to their once peaceful lives slips away, they find solace in creating art and fashion. And they cling to the hope that, in the midst of adversity, a brighter future may yet unfold.

Director’s profile:

Yegor Troyanovsky is a Ukrainian director, screenwriter, and cinematographer. He has solid professional experience in the audiovisual sector working in film production, television programs, advertising, and music videos on Ukrainian and American TV. Yegor is the author and film director of his first short documentary films ‘Rear’ (participated in the VI Odessa International Film Festival) and ‘Aerodrome’. His first full-length documentary film ‘Demon’ was a participant in XI Odessa International Film Festival and received the FIPRESCI award for ‘BEST FILM’. Yegor Troyanovsky is also one of the creators of the critically-acclaimed historical documentary series: ‘Collapse. How Ukrainians Destroyed the Evil Empire’.

Producer’s profile:

Olha Beskhmelnytsina is a Ukrainian producer with more than 15 years of experience in film production. She is a co-founder of a women-led “2Brave Productions”. Her credits include award-winning movies such as “Rules of two walls” (Special jury prize at Tribeca FF 2023) by David Gutnik, “Stop-Zemlia” by Kateryna Gornostai (Crystal Bear Generation 14+ at Berlinale 2021), “Intercepted” 2024 by Oksana Karpovych (Two special mentions award at Berlinale 2024 ), “Collapse. How the Ukrainians ruined the Empire of Evil” (2021 Documentary Series for Ukrainian National Channel). Alumni of Ex Oriente and Eurodoc training programs. She is the Chairwoman of the board of the Ukrainian Film Academy.

Runtime: 71'

Expected release: May, 2025

Production stage: Shooting, Editing

Budget: €260 000 (40% in place)

1st feature: Yes

Looking for: Festivals, Sales Agents, Pre-sale, Gap Financing

Synopsis:

Birdie is a self exploratory visual journey of woman emancipation through the medium of her camera. An unexpected series of events throws Aneta off guard and in one sudden blast sweeps away from her life two most important men – her father and her husband. The unwanted breakup of her marriage triggered by the unforeseen death of her dad forced her to search for consolation in filming process

Director’s profile:

Aneta Ptak graduated from the Faculty of Multimedia Communication at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan, Poland in 2010. She exhibited her short films, video art installations, performances in museums and galleries across Europe including Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, Poland (2009), Platform Gallery, Vaasa, Finland (2009), Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, Poland (2010). Her experimental short films have been screened on international festivals in Poland and other European countries. In 2010 she received a grant from The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland. Currently she is a Phd student in National Film School in Lodz, Poland. Since 2017 she has been working as a movie post production specialist. Previous films: “Emma”, 2019, Poland, fiction, 15′ 28” (2019), “Under the surface”, 2019, Poland, documentary, 11′ 09” (2019)

Producer’s profile:

Małgorzata Staroń is a Polish producer whose principal aim is to produce author driven, ambitious fiction films and creative documentaries, sometimes in difficult shooting conditions. Besides international co-productions, she focuses on discovering new emerging directors in Poland and abroad. She produces real, contemporary stories, touching deep human needs and fascinations – in a poetic way. The most important for her is the artistic level of her productions and their international presence.
Last films:
2022 Apolonia Apolonia 116’ (L.Glob) documentary – Oscar Shortlist, IDFA Grand Prix
2022 Autobiography 116’ (M.Mubarak) fiction – Venice Orizzonti/Critics’ Week 2022 2022 January 116’ (V.Kairiss) fiction – Tribeca 2022 Winner

Runtime: 90'

Expected release: January, 2025

Production stage: Post-production

Budget: $360 000 (43% in place)

1st feature: No

Looking for: Festivals, Sales Agents, Buyers, Gap Financing

Synopsis:

The battle rages on, but everything seems so calm and fragile, until a missile shatters everything. A first-hand look into the reality of the Ukrainian front line, by a director and a mother, who became a soldier. Frontline reveals a very different and unseen side of war through a camera that is both a soldier’s and a documentary filmmaker’s eye.

Director’s profile:

Alisa Kovalenko is a Ukrainian award-winning documentary director from Kyiv. Her debut feature-length documentary “Alisa in Warland” had its world premiere in the First Appearance competition at IDFA 2015. Her second film “Home Games” (2018), a social fairy-tale with a sensitive female gaze about the broken dreams of a young professional female football player featured in over 100 festivals. After the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Alisa left the editing room of her then upcoming film “We Will Not Fade Away” and joined a volunteer fighting unit of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. She fought in the trenches for four months before returning to finish the film, which premiered at Berlinale Generation 2023 and has been having a very successful festival run. Alisa is a recipient of multiple awards and scholarship, including a Chicken & Egg Award (2024).

Producer’s profile:

Kasia Kuczynska is a Polish producer at HAKA Films in Warsaw. She graduated from Lodz Film School and Wajda School. Katarzyna has worked on international co-productions such as “Communion”, directed by Anna Zamecka, which went on to win the European Film Award Award for Best Documentary in 2017. HAKA FILMS’ first documentary, “Boylesque” by Bogna Kowalczyk, premiered at Hot Docs 2022 winning Best International Filmmaker Award. HAKA Films co-produced Alisa Kovalenko’s latest feature-length documentary, “We Will Not Fade Away”. In 2024 HAKA FILMS premiered their third documentary, LILI by Sylwia Rosak at Santa Barbara IFF. Kasia was a part of Ji.hlava’s Emerging Producers 2023 programme.

Runtime: 80'

Expected release: February, 2026

Production stage: Pre-production

Budget: €496 000 (45% in place)

1st feature: No

Looking for: Co-producers, Gap Financing, Buyers, Sales Agents

Synopsis:

A playful exploration of power, money, hierarchy, and inequality through the eyes of children from all walks of life. Playtopia tells the story of a filmmaker and mother delving into the minds of 8 children, seeking to understand their perceptions of our world and its future. The film combines the real and the imagined in a documentary film with whimsical and magical elements.

Director’s profile:

Bara Jichova Tyson is a Czech-American artist and filmmaker. Her first feature documentary film Talking About Adultery premiered at the 2019 Sheffield Doc/Fest and its North American premiere was at DOC NYC. As a co-editor and writer, Bara co-created the feature documentary “Organ Player” directed by Narcissister (2018 Sundance Film Festival). She edited the feature documentary “Instructions on Parting”, directed by Amy Jenkins ( 2018 MoMA /Doc Fortnight). Jichova Tyson was also the art director of “Now, Forager,” a feature film by Jason Cortlund and Julia Halperin, selected for the 2012 New Directors/New Films. Jichova Tyson studied fine art and film at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. In 20027 she obtained a BFA from MASSART in Boston, MA. In 2016, she was a recipient of The MacDowell Fellowship.

Producer’s profile:

Alice Taberywas was born in France in 1985. She graduated from FAMU in Prague, studied at the Film School CCC in Mexico City, La Fémis in France and Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in Germany. Her first feature film she produced at FAMU, the documentary New Life by Adam Olha (Hot Docs 2013, Audience Award at Jihlava IDFF). She co-produced two feature films – Eva Nová by Marko Škop (FIPRESCI Award at Toronto IFF 2015) and Little Crusader by Václav Kadrnka (Crystal Globe at Karlovy Vary IFF 2017, Eurimages Development Award). Last few years she has been focusing on documentaries: Traces of a Landscape (Visions du Réel 2020, Student Jury Award at Jihlava IDFF), Reconstruction of Occupation (Karlovy Vary IFF 2021), Adam Ondra: Pushing the Limits (Tallinn Black Nights 2022, Vancouver IFF), Atirkül in the Land of Real Men (IDFA 2023). She is an EAVE and Producers on the Move graduate.