Cannes Docs

Runtime: 80'

Expected release: February, 2025

Production stage: In production

Budget: €539 295 (90% in place)

1st feature: No

Looking for: Festivals, Sales Agents / Distributors, Buyers

Synopsis:

The relationships and self-image of family men in remote northern regions are thrown into a crisis when a man is caught having an affair with another man. It is a warm-hearted family film about ordinary Finnish men who face an unnamed sexual desire, bisexuality and need to decide either to keep their secrets or “come out of the closet” regardless of the pressure of conformity created by society.

Director’s profile:

Markku Heikkinen is an award-winning documentary film director and screenwriter who has made more than twenty feature and short films. He graduated as Master of Arts in ELO Film School in Aalto University majoring in Documentary film 2006 with best ratings. Heikkinen is an active social debater and has worked also as a freelance journalist in numerous radio- and tv-shows in YLE from 1984 to 2013. He worked as a screenwriter for Ruthless Times- Songs of Care (dir. Susanna Helke) His film No Road Home won the critics prize and also the audience award at Docpoint Helsinki. He received a Cinema State Prize in 2015.

Producer’s profile:

Hannu-Pekka Vitikainen has a strong reputation in the Finnish film business thanks to his distinguished work as a cinematographer. After graduating ELO Film School in Aalto University majoring in cinematography he’s worked with Finland’s most talented directors on award-winning films including In The Shadow Of The Holy Book (IDFA Main competition), Emergency Call (IDFA Masters series). He produced Gods of Molenbeek which screened in more than 60 international film festivals including Hot Docs, Visions du Réel, Dok.fest Munich, DocPoint. He founded Zone2 Pictures in 2005 and has produced creative documentary films and is developing feature fiction films. Zone2 is one of the leading documentary production companies in Finland, and with Gods of Molenbeek, it won the Jussi-Prize for the best documentary film in Finland.

Runtime: 100'

Expected release: December, 2025

Production stage: Production

Budget: €800 350 (40% in place)

1st feature: No

Looking for: Festivals, Sales Agents / Distributors, Buyers, Strategic guidance

Synopsis:

In 1975, the renowned Norwegian film director Arnljot Berg was arrested in Paris and charged with the murder of his third wife. Forty years later his daughter Lene Berg is visited by the ghost of her now long-deceased father. He claims that she remembers everything wrong and that it’s time to ask the right Questions. But what is it that he wants her to remember? And what are the right questions?

Director’s profile:

Director Lene Berg (Oslo, 1965) is a trained film director from Dramatiska Institutet in Stockholm. She has directed four feature films and a number of shorter films. Berg also works in other media, and has produced works for museums, galleries, as well as for cinema, books, and public spaces. She has had numerous exhibitions both nationally and internationally, including Manifesta (2010) and the Sydney Biennale (2008).Her film “Ung Løs Gris” was produced for the Norwegian pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2013. The film “Kopfkino” (2013) was nominated for an Amanda award and for Best Nordic Documentary at CPH:DOX. Berg’s most recent production is the autobiographical film “False Belief,” which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2019, where it was nominated for a Teddy award and an Amnesty Prize.

Producer’s profile:

Awardwinning filmmaker and producer Ellen Ugelstad received a BFA from the Academy of Arts University, in San Francisco, California. She founded the collective TWENTYONE PICTURES , an independent production company focusing on auteur driven films, upon her return to Norway. “Indian Summer”, tells the story of her younger brother living with schizophrenia. and was nominated for the International Young Talent Award at DOK Leipzig, and the Nordic Dox Award at CPH:DOX. The film also won two nominations at the Norwegian Emmy-Awards. Her short film “The Meetingroom” won best screenplay at the Norwegian Shortfilmfestival in 2017. Both “The Green Valley” and “The Wonders Beneath the Sea”, received the Golden Chair award at the Norwegian Shortfilm festival, qualifying them for Oscars consideration.

Runtime: 80'

Expected release: February, 2026

Production stage: Development

Budget: €417 000 (19% in place)

1st feature: Yes

Looking for: Festivals, Sales Agents, Distributors, Buyers, Co-Producers

Synopsis:

While emptying her childhood home after her estranged father’s death, Angelica recalls a fierce and solitary love she had for her history teacher, Miss S. As her list of duties never seems to diminish, an intense desire grows in Angelica: to meet her again.

Director’s profile:

Angelica Ruffier is a screenwriter, director, and documentary filmmaker, born in Luleå Sweden, raised in France and living in Sweden since 2017. Angelica holds a master’s degree in documentary film direction from Stockholm University of the Arts (2021-23) and has also completed the documentary program at Biskops Arnö Folk High School (2017-18). She also possesses a degree in graphic design from École Supérieure d’Art et Design Grenoble-Valence in France (2010-13). Angelica has directed, edited, and produced the short films “From Here and Back Again” (2019), “Stranger” (2020), and “People at the Recycling Market ” (2023). Since 2019, she has been developing the documentary “The Strikers” in collaboration with Helena Molin and Olga Ruin, as well as the documentary “A Face to Be Loved,” both under the production company MDEMC.

Producer’s profile:

Brynhildur Þórarinsdóttir (born in Iceland 1991) holds a bachelor’s degree in film studies from Stockholm University and a master’s degree in film production from Stockholm University of the Arts. She has produced the shorts “Babes Roll Out” (2017), “Real Mother” (2018), and “Donkeyland” (2023), and also worked as a production manager in the film and TV industry. She is currently serving as an associate producer at the Swedish production company Garagefilm International.

Marta Dauliūtė (born and raised in Lithuania 1984) holds a master’s degree in film directing and production from the Valand Academy. Since 2010, she has been co-running the production company MDEMC and has directed and produced several films that have been screened at Hot Docs, DOK Leipzig, Kasseler Dokfest, Transmediale and Thessaloniki IFF amongst other. She has also been working as an intimacy coordinator since 2020.

Runtime: 90' / 58'

Expected release: January, 2025

Production stage: Post-production

Budget: €1 069 035 (70% in place)

1st feature: No

Looking for: Festivals, Gap Financing, Buyers, Distributors

Synopsis:

A journey deep into southern Galicia, one of Europe’s most vulnerable wildfire zones, during the hottest summer ever measured. Humans and animals alike struggle to cope as inextinguishable fires draw closer. Wild horses have roamed the Galician mountains for centuries and are indispensable when it comes to fire prevention by grazing but they are vanishing in today’s clash between human progress and nature.

Director’s profile:

Robin Petré is a Danish film director based in Copenhagen. Her work revolves around our coexistence with nature while placing the audience at eye level with the animal world, and her award-winning films have screened at numerous festivals around the world. Her feature-length debut FROM THE WILD SEA (2021) premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival with a nomination for the Berlinale Documentary Award, and received the Grand Prix at the Global Science Film Festival among other awards. Her short film PULSE (2016) was awarded the Silver Dove for An Outstanding Artistic Contribution at DOK Leipzig. Robin Petré was among the Jurors of the 2022 IDA Awards. She’s an alumna of Berlinale Talents (2022), Nordic Film Lab (2020) and IDFAcademy (2019). She holds an MA in Documentary Film Directing from Doc Nomads (2015).

Producer’s profile:

Malene Flindt Pedersen is co-owner and producer at Hansen & Pedersen. With over 25 years of experience in the industry, she has produced and co-produced a number of internationally renowned documentary films. Malene is Chairwoman of WIFT Denmark and on the board of the Danish Producers’ Association. From 2006-2012 she was Head of development of Short and Documentary at the Danish Film Institute. Signe Skov Thomsen holds a Master’s degree in Comparative Literature, has a background in publishing and has worked with documentary production for 8 years; the past 6 years in close collaboration with Malene Flindt Pedersen. Signe is an EAVE Producers Workshop graduate and alumna of IDFAcademy. The film is co-produced by Carles Brugueras and Marieke van den Bersselaar from the Polar Star Films, one of Spain’s most prominent Spanish documentary production companies on the international market.