Projects
Projects
Itoiz Summer Sessions
Original title: Itoiz Udako Sesioak
Directed by: Larraitz ZUAZ
Produced by: Ainhoa ANDRAKA, Zuri GOIKOETXEA (Doxa Producciones, Spain)
Country of production: Spain
Runtime: 100'
Expected release: September, 2023
Production stage: Editing
Budget: €450.000 (90% in place)
1st feature: Yes
Looking for: Gap Financing, Sales Agents / Distributors, Buyers, Festivals, Co-Producers, Strategic Guidance.
Synopsis:
The discovery of some unpublished recordings leads Juan Carlos, leader of ITOIZ, to ponder the dissolution of the band at the height of their success, after having adopted a more accessible pop style which he now disowns. Juan Carlos begins a cathartic journey to the essence of the band, reliving their beginnings in the 70s as a progressive rock group in Mutriku, in an attempt to reconcile with the past.
Director’s profile:
Immersed in the audiovisual world since 2003, Larraitz currently combines her work as an executive producer and director at BEGIRA PRODUKZIOAK with a more cinematic facet focused on documentary language and music videos, working as a director, editor, and screenwriter. Her first documentary works were situated in a social framework, portraying two of the most important labor struggles that occurred in the Basque Country after Franco’s regime with “”Nosotras, mujeres de Euskalduna”” and “”163 días, la huelga de Bandas””. Later, she delved into a more artistic environment with projects such as “”Hilos de tiempo”” and “”Ekilibrismoaren artea””.
Her passion for music and music video language has led Larraitz to direct more creative projects and fully immerse herself in the history of one of the most iconic groups in the Basque Country during the 1980s, the rock band ITOIZ.
Producer’s profile:
Doxa is a production company based in Bilbao, Spain specializing in documentary films. Some of our films are Asier AND I (Asier ETA biok, Amaia & Aitor Merino, 2015), INLAND (MESETA, Juan Palacios, 2019), FANTASIA (Aitor Merino, 2021), CABEZA Y CORAZÓN (Ainhoa Andraka and Zuri Goikoetxea), ABOVE 592 METRES (Maddi Barber, 2018) and IN A NEARBY FIELD (Laida Lertxundi and Ren Ebel, 2023). They have been screened and awarded at numerous film festivals such as SSIFF, CPH:DOX, Bafici, Visions du Réel, FICX, FICG, Pesaro Film Festival, or Festival de Málaga. Currently, we are producing, writing and editing the film “ITOIZ UDAKO SESIOAK” (Larraitz Zuazo), coproducing “CAIGAN LAS ROSAS BLANCAS” (Albertina Carri) with Gentil Cine (Argentina), El Borde (Argentina) and Punta Colorada (Brazil) and developing the documentary series CLOSE FAMILY (Ainhoa Andraka, Zuri Goikoetxea and Lucila Rodríguez).
Island of the Winds
Original title: Da Feng Zhi Dao
Directed by: Ya-Ting HSU
Produced by: Ya-Ting HSU (Argosy Films and Media Productions, Taiwan), Huang YIN-YU (Moolin Films, Ltd. & Moolin Production, Co., Ltd, Taiwan & Japan), Baptiste BRUNNER (Wide Productions - La Cuisine aux Images, France)
Country of production: Taiwan, Japan, France
Runtime: 120'
Expected release: February, 2024
Production stage: Post-production
Budget: €318.371 (30.7% in place)
1st feature: Yes
Looking for: International Distribution, Gap Financing, Co-producers, Pre-Sales, Sales
Synopsis:
Following the endless and unforgettable fighting of a social movement around a leprosy sanatorium in Taiwan, a lifework of the filmmaker for two decades.
Director’s profile:
Ya-Ting HSU is a Taiwan based independent filmmaker and began her filmmaking career in 2009 officially. By challenging all manner of artistic conventions and genres, she has been able to form her unique aesthetic and has proven herself to be a skilled and sensitive storyteller. At present, she’s focused on exploring personal desire and loss at specific historical moments. She believes one person’s story can illuminate an entire era. Her latest directorial works “The River”, selected for the 55th Ann Arbor Film Festival; she also in association with Taiwan PBS documentary series “The Making of Modern Taiwan”. She is nominated for Best Editor at Golden Bell Awards for “Our Happy Birth Day”. Currently, she is working on a documentary project “Island of the Winds”has been selected in 2022 Doc By the seas, Editing Lab (the pitch session, won Current Time Prize) and 2021 ASIADOC.
Producer’s profile:
Huang Yin-Yu is a director and producer based in Okinawa. He began documentary filmmaking in 2010, and he founded Moolin Films, Ltd. (Taiwan) in 2015, later Moolin Production Co., Ltd. (Japan) in 2019. His films include “After Spring, the Tamaki Family…” (2016) and “Green Jail” (2021) which were theatrically released in Japan and Taiwan, and his films were selected in Visions du Réel, DOK.fest München, Taipei Film Festival, Kinema Junpo Best 10 Documentaries and others. He is an Emerging Producers 2020 and Rotterdam Lab 2023 alumni and one of the mentors of ASIADOC 2021. As producer, he focuses on international projects with Asian perspectives and aesthetics. Besides film production, he’s the executive director of Cinema at Sea International Film Festival.
Co-Producer’s profile:
Baptiste Brunner is a film Producer for Wide Studios, a French production group covering a large documentary portfolio, supported by all companies acquired by the group. Since 2018, Baptiste has been involved in international co-production meetings several times a year. He has been developing and coproducing documentaries globally. Passionate about author-driven documentary film, Baptiste is also highly interested in major social and environmental topics. His lastest produced documentary works include “WANI”, “AMCHILINI” and “BLUEBERRY DREAMS”, and is now producing “Island of the Winds.”
72 hours
Original title: 72 hours
Directed by: Anna SAVCHENKO
Produced by: Isabel DE LA SERNA (Playtime films, Belgium), Jean-Marie GIGON (Sanosi Productions, France), Volia CHAJKOUSKAYA (Volia Films, Belarus)
Country of production: Belgium, France, Estonia
Runtime: 90'
Expected release: September, 2023
Production stage: Post-Production
Budget: €350.885 (75% in place)
1st feature: Yes
Looking for: Gap Financing, TV Coproduction, Prebuys, Sales Agent, Festival, Impact Partners
Synopsis:
A woman’s life has been incomplete ever since her son was wrongfully accused, sentenced to death and executed within a year. From a grieving mother she transforms to a symbol of the struggle against the death penalty. Today, she shares her painful reminiscences with a theater group of 4 young people, all displaced for different reasons. They all gather to poetically process the mother and son’s story, combining documentary theater with media and family archives.
Director’s profile:
Anna studied documentary film at Doc Nomads international master program. Her main interest is creative documentary, hybrid and experimental cinema, while in her work she tends to explore the dialogue between the genres. Based in Belgium and Spain, she works both as director and editor. Her feature documentary project “72 Hours” was awarded at DOK Industry Leipzig 2019 (EWA Network Talent Award), at East Doc Market 2021 (Czech TV co-production award) and won FIFDH Geneva 2021 Impact Day Award.
Producer’s profile:
Playtime Films is founded in 2007 in Brussels, Belgium. It focuses on ambitious cinematographic works and eye-catching television shows with international scope in both the fiction and documentary genre. Playtime is always on the road searching for audacious authors and directors who have a singular vision of the world. Isabel de la Serna joined Playtime Films in 2010 and one year after she became partner and producer in charge of Playtime’s films development and production. As the unique producer at Playtime Films, she aims to build up a strong network of Belgian and international talented writers and directors to develop and produce high-hand documentaries with international potential and art house and market driven feature film.
Jumping the Fence
Category: Spanish Screenings Goes to Cannes
Directed by: Benito Zambrano
Produced by: Cine365 Films / Castelao Productions / Noodles Production
Country of production: Spain
Original title: EL SALTO
Language: Spanish, French
Runtime: 120'
Completed in: 2023
After arriving in Spain several years ago from his native Guinea Conakry, Ibrahim settled in Madrid, where he lives with Mariama and works as a builder. One day, the police arrest Ibrahim and, not having legal residence status, he is deported back to his home country.
The Fin
Category: Fantastic 7
Directed by: Syeyoung Park
Produced by: Heejung Oh
Country of production: Republic of Korea
Original title: 지느러미
Genre: Disaster, Independent, Science-fiction
Language: Korean
Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival
A dying merman asks a friend to give his remains to his daughter, hiding amongst the humans.Tasked with this dangerous journey, the merman secretly heads to the land of humans. He is chased by a new civil servant recruit fueled by curiosity and hatred.
Silex and the City
Directed by: Jul and Jean-Paul Guigue
Produced by: Je suis bien content, Left Field Ventures
Country of production: France, Belgium
Original title: Silex and the City
Language: French
Runtime: 90'
Completed in: 2024
In a prehistory for operettas that is seemingly doomed never to evolve, a conflicted father and daughter disrupt the Stone Age routine. After a tragic-comedy round-trip to the future, they accidentally bring back an Ikea “bent key”, which will at last trigger Evolution, for better or for worse… Writing, religion, politics… who will be capable of putting an end to these disasters?
Alone in the Night
Category: Málaga Goes to Cannes
Directed by: Guillermo Rojas
Produced by: Laura Hojman, Guillermo Rojas, Olmo figueredo (Summer Films)
Country of production: Spain
Original title: Solos en la noche
Language: Spanish with English subtitles
Runtime: 90'
Completed in: 2023
Paco and his friends, a group of labor lawyers, hide in a house during the harrowing night of February 23, 1981, when there was an attempted coup d’état in Spain without really knowing what to do, whether to wait for events, flee the country or go out to fight for young Spanish democracy.
Closing Night
Category: Queer Screen Goes to Cannes
Directed by: Timothy Despina Marshall
Produced by: Bec Dakin & Timothy Despina Marshall | B&T Films, Orange Entertainment Co.
Country of production: Australia
Original title: Closing Night
Language: English
Runtime: 82'
Completed in: 2023
When his life falls apart, a young queer theatre actor, poised to play the lead in The Glass Menagerie, must reckon with his demons and fight for survival while trapped in a hotel room with a sinister presence.
Archive. Box #64
Directed by: Eva Dzhyshyashvili
Produced by: Natalia Libet | 2Brave Productions
Country of production: Ukraine, Germany, Sweden, Poland
Original title: Archive. Box #64
Language: Ukrainian, German, Swedish, Polish
Runtime: 85'
Budget: 185 000 Eur
Completed in: 2024
The artistic image of the archive and personal stories of characters, who collect and store archival information, are intertwined, showing the experience of accumulating knowledge, building a bridge between the past and the present. However, does knowledge have enough power to prevent new tragedies?
Let’s Play Soldiers
Original title: يلا نلعب عسكرة
Directed by: Mariam Al-Dhubhani
Produced by: Mohammed Al-Jaberi (Meem Square Films LLC, Yemen)
Country of production: Yemen
Runtime: 90'
Expected release: September, 2024
Production stage: In production
1st feature: Yes
Looking for: Gap financing, strategic guidance, editing and narrative-build consultants, co-producers
Synopsis:
A 16-year-old former child soldier, Nasser, returns home to a small village South of Yemen to care for his family and prevent his two younger siblings from dropping out of school and following the same path. The ongoing 8-year war had broken his older brother and father before him and forced Nasser to become the guardian of his younger siblings’ fate.
Director’s profile:
Mariam Al-Dhubhani is a Yemeni-Russian award-winning journalist, filmmaker, curator, and educator based in the MENA region. She first pursued her passion for media during the 2011 Arab uprisings and co-founded her first media production. She is a two-time TEDx speaker and one of the first directors to utilize virtual reality to highlight stories from Yemen. Mariam attempts to shed light on the dangers of stereotyping the region in the mainstream media and provides a counterviewpoint to showcase equality in humanity.
Producer’s profile:
Mohammed Al-Jaberi is a Yemeni producer and cinematographer who worked on award-winning short documentary films focusing on Yemen. His feature-length debut is a film showing the impact of the war in Yemen on children, produced in collaboration with DFI and AlJazeera. He received specialized training from international film experts including the French Cambodian director, Rithy Phan, and the Sundance consultant Bruni Burres. He participated in a number of international film industry events including in Beirut DC, HotDocs, Doha Film Institute, AJB DOC, Close up Initiative, MEDIMED, Jacob Burns Film Center, IDFA, and Cairo International Film Festival. He holds two degrees in international relations and development.